The Centre and the Chair, in their desire to promote frontier research of relevance for Spain and the UK, welcomes the Autumn Term's LSE-Miguel Dols Fellows.
PhD. Candidate Raj Kharel
Raj is a PhD. candidate specialising in regional innovation, economic geography, and network analysis. Currently based at the University of Stavanger, he investigates how R&D investment and connectivity shape regional innovation across Europe. Raj applies advanced quantitative methods, including panel econometrics and network science, to large datasets such as patent records and academic publications.
Alongside academia, Raj has contributed as a consultant to the World Bank and the OECD on digital governance, subnational finance, regional competitiveness, post-war reconstruction and development, and cross-border co-operation. He holds an undergraduate degree from Nepal and two MScs—from Lund University in Welfare Policies and Management, and from the LSE in Local Economic Development.
At the Centre, he is collaborating on research examining how academics interact with firm innovators to foster regional innovation, and how global service firms might strengthen these linkages.
PhD. Candidate Ruoxuan Li
Ruoxuan is a PhD. candidate in Development Economics. Her research interests encompass the political economy of development, economic geography, and environmental sustainability, with a particular focus on the role of finance in shaping market-based climate solutions. Her work focuses on three core areas: the political economy of carbon markets in Asia, corporate carbon offsetting and decision-making processes in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and state–market relations in developing states, with the aim of examining the interplay between financialisation, carbon offsets, and state involvement in climate governance.
Her doctoral research investigates how financialisation influences the implementation of carbon offsetting initiatives by major Chinese SOEs and considers the broader implications for corporate sustainability practices. By analysing how these enterprises utilise carbon offsets to establish environmental credibility, the study seeks to explore the relationship between sustainability reporting and ongoing investments in carbon-intensive sectors. Additionally, it examines how financial instruments are deployed not only as measures of environmental commitment but also as tools for managing market reputation. The research employs a case study and interview-based methodology to provide an empirically grounded analysis of these dynamics.
Prof. Mita Marra
She is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the University of Naples Federico II. From 2016 to 2021, she was Visiting Professor of Comparative Public Policy at the George Washington University. She has also taught in the IPDET program at Carlton University and at Maastricht University. Her research focuses on the evaluation of innovation policies, with an emphasis on universities' role in regional innovation ecosystems and the assessment of public governance reforms.
She holds a BA in Economics from the University of Naples, an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins – SAIS, and a PhD in Public Policy from George Washington University. She has consulted for the World Bank, UNDP, FAO, IFAD, the European Commission, and Italian regional governments.
She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Evaluation and Program Planning, serves on the boards of the European Evaluation Society and the International Evaluation Academy, and is a former President of the Italian Evaluation Association.
PhD. Candidate Santiago Quintero Suárez
Santiago is a PhD. candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. His research focuses on the political economy of environmental governance. Combining computational and advanced quantitative methods with qualitative case studies, he examines how bureaucratic and subnational politics shape natural resource governance in contexts marked by increasing fragmentation, politicisation, and relational complexity. While his work primarily centres on Latin America, he has broader interests in the Global South and in comparative analyses between the Global South and North.
Dr. Jonna Rickardsson
Jonna is a postdoctoral researcher in Economics at Jönköping International Business School and at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE). Her research interests include political economics, regional science, labor economics, and (im)migration economics. In her research, she consistently adopts a regional perspective when investigating demographic dynamics, such as migration patterns and rural decline, that influence political landscapes, labour markets, and spatial divides.
PhD. Candidate Juan Pablo Rodríguez Paredes
Juan Pablo Rodríguez Paredes is a PhD. candidate and early-stage researcher in Economics and Business at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Before returning to academia, he accumulated 18 years of professional experience in omnichannel retail operations leading digital transformation projects in the retail sector. His main interests are in spatial econometrics and impact evaluation techniques to assess the ability of the traditional U.S. retail sector to withstand digital disruptions arising from the rapid growth of e-commerce.
During his stay at the Centre, he will further develop quantitative methods for evaluating sectoral resilience in response to digital transformation.
Prof. Vassilis Tselios
He is a Professor of Regional Analysis and Policy at the Department of Economic and Regional Development at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athens, Greece). He holds a PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE). He was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Regional Economics at the University of Thessaly, a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, a Lecturer in Economic Geography at the University of Southampton and at Newcastle University, a Researcher at the LSE and at the University of Groningen, and an external consultant at the World Bank. His current research focuses on regional development, public policy, decentralisation, climate change, wellbeing, and natural disasters.