Research and Networks
Dr Wilson Prichard is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and Department of Political Science, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Executive Director of the ICTD and Chair of the LoGRI program. His research focuses on the political economy of tax reform in lower-income countries and the relationship between taxation and citizen demands for improved governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Giulia Mascagni‘s main research interests relate to taxation, public finance, and evaluation of public policy in low-income countries. She is an economist and obtained her PhD in 2014 at the University of Sussex (Department of Economics). Giulia is the Research Director at ICTD. She is a Research Fellow in the Governance Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies (UK), as well as Research Associate at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (UK) and Associate Fellow at Johns Hopkins University SAIS (Italy).
Dr Martin Hearson researches the politics of international business taxation, and in particular the relationship between developed and developing countries. He uses field interviews, archival documentation and novel datasets to study how international tax agreements are negotiated. Before joining ICTD, he was a fellow in international political economy at the London School of Economics, teaching courses on political economy and global financial governance. He spent a decade working in the charity sector, and continues to collaborate with development NGOs and intergovernmental organisations in much of his research.
Dr Max Gallien is a political scientist specialising the politics of informal and illegal economies, development politics and the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa. He completed his PhD, titled “Smugglers and States: Illegal Trade in the Political Settlements of North Africa” at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is based in Brighton at the Institute of Development Studies and co-leads the research programme on informality and taxation with Dr Vanessa van den Boogaard, and is involved in the ICTD’s capacity building programme.
Dr Giovanni Occhiali is a Development Economist based at the Institute of Development Studies, where he works on a number of projects related to Tax Administration and Compliance, Tax and Governance and co-leads ICTD’s capacity building programme together with Dr Max Gallien. His research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone.
Dr Colette Nyirakamana is Research Lead for the LoGRI program, and Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on local finances, in particular the building of fiscal autonomy in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) subnational governments. She studies the reasons why, despite the significant potential of financial resources, SSA cities fail to raise enough revenue. Colette’s research draws on institutional and political economy theories to show how institutional rules and incentives and local political dynamics create favourable and unfavourable conditions for effective revenue mobilisation. Her research highlights how weak fiscal autonomy limits the capacity of cities to finance public services valued by citizens. She completed her doctoral degree in Comparative Public Policy at McMaster University in Canada.
Dr. Philip Mader is the overall Programme Lead of the DIGITAX programme as well as Research Lead for Component 1. He has over 14 years’ research and consulting experience in the field of international development. His research areas include political economy, finance and development, youth employment, financialisation, financial inclusion and, more broadly, market-oriented interventions in development. He has led impact evaluations of financial inclusion and Solidarity Groups for European and international funders.
His prior research, which focused on microfinance and its connections with poverty and financial markets, was awarded two major PhD prizes. He has research and consulting experience in India and sub-Saharan Africa, and has been invited to speak at academic and practitioner events on all continents.
He previously taught sociology, political economy and theory of knowledge at IDS and the Universities of Cologne and Basel.
Dr Fabrizio Santoro is based at the Institute of Development Studies, working as a Postdoctoral Fellow on empirical studies on tax compliance in Rwanda, Eswatini and Uganda, as well as on informal tax in Somalia. He is the Research Lead for Component 2 of the DIGITAX programme. Fabrizio’s main research interests relate to governance, public finance, and taxation, with a strong focus on impact evaluation methodologies and quantitative analysis. Holding a MSc in Economic and Social Sciences at Bocconi University (Milan), Fabrizio completed his PhD in Economics at University of Sussex. He also worked as a Research Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action in Myanmar for a year and a half before joining the ICTD.
Dr Jalia Kangave‘s work focuses on the taxation of High Net Worth Individuals, Gender and Tax and research capacity building. She previously served as the Principal of the East African School of Taxation, worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers Uganda as a tax consultant and lectured at the Kampala International University. Jalia is currently the lead consultant for our gender and taxation programme. She is also involved in our capacity building programme and in work on taxing High Net Worth Individuals in Africa.
Girma Gebretsadik did his Master’s degree in International Revenue Administration. He is based in Addis Ababa, and has worked with the federal revenue administration for a decade in various capacities including Head of the Large Taxpayers Office, Deputy Director General for Corporate Functions, and Head of R&D Directorate at the former Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority. He is accredited Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) Assessor and participated in the TADAT Assessment of Ethiopia and DRC. Currently, he is an independent consultant focusing on tax, as well as the Executive Secretary of the Ethiopian Tax Research Network (ETRN).
Dr Olly Owen is the Lead Research Consultant for the NTRN as well as co-investigator (with Dr Tom Goodfellow) on the project Taxation, Property Rights and the Social Contract in Lagos. He is an ESRC Future Research Leaders Fellow at Oxford Department for International Development (ODID) where he is currently working on a three-year study of new transformations in revenue and fiscal governance in Nigeria, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. At ODID he also continues work with a focus on policing structures and practices in Nigeria and work related to longstanding interests in politics and governance in the West African sub-region and in political anthropology. After working in London and Lagos, first with West African civil society groups, and then as an investment risk analyst Olly completed a DPhil at Oxford University’s Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, undertaking an ethnographic study of the Nigerian Police Force.
Michael Falade is an international development researcher and evaluation professional based in Lagos, Nigeria with more than a decade of work experience on various FCDO and other international organisations funded research projects. He is interested in policy-centered interventions focusing on governance, agriculture, public health, and other social issues as well as in development intervention evaluations. Michael holds a Master’s degree in public health. Prior to his work as consultant with ICTD as the Executive Secretary of the NTRN, Michael worked as a public policy analyst and research associate at a Lagos Policy Think Tank.
Christopher Wales is an ICTD consultant working as a Senior Research Advisor for the DIGITAX programme. He has worked with Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers in many countries on economic and fiscal policy, fiscal institutions, revenue administration, labour market issues and pension policy. He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers for the UK Government (1997-2003), led the Global Tax and Governance Team at PwC (2012-16), was a partner in the tax practice of Arthur Andersen (1990-97), was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, and later Managing Director of a life assurance company. Chris is currently Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Rwanda Social Security Board, member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and member of the Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, which he was instrumental in founding. He has worked extensively with think tanks and civil society. Chris has an MA in history and a PhD in medieval history, both from Cambridge University.
Awa is an economist specializing in public finance in developing and transition countries. She’s particularly interested in tax issues in developing nations. Awa joined the IDS DIGITAX team to work on the Assessment of the impact of taxes on Digital financial services and the approach to designing effective taxation.
She holds a doctorate from the Université Clermont Auvergne in France, and the Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR), a think tank based in Senegal. Her research focused on the taxation of the primary sector in developing countries, in particular agriculture and extractive industries in Senegal. During her thesis, Awa worked on oil rent-sharing models, the link between tax VAT exemptions and agriculture, import taxation and its effects on competitiveness, and the link between tax revenues from natural resources and agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following her thesis, she coordinated two projects on the effects of Covid-19 in Senegal and the evaluation of social protection measures for vulnerable populations.
Adrienne Lees is a Research Officer working primarily on projects relating to tax administration and investment, tax attitudes, and on the DIGITAX programme. Her research interests relate to taxation, public finance, and economic development, particularly for Sub-Saharan Africa. She has recently completed an Overseas Development Institute Fellowship in the Tax Policy Department at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Uganda. Adrienne holds an MSc in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford and is completing her PhD in Economics at the University of Sussex.
Hannelore Niesten is an ICTD-consultant working as a Research Officer for the DIGITAX programme. Her research interests relate to tax issues in connection with economic development. Hannelore joined the IDS Digitax team to work on a comparative tax assessment of digital financial services in nine sub-Saharan countries.
Hannelore has worked with several World Bank units on legal and tax projects (Poverty and Equity, Governance, Digital Development, Subnational Doing Business, and Women, Business and the Law). Hannelore practiced tax law at a Brussels based law firm for several years and was a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown Law School and the University of Florida specializing in tax law. Hannelore holds a PhD in Law from Maastricht University and Hasselt University (double degree), an LLM in Business and Finance law from George Washington University, Advanced Masters in Tax Law and Notary Law from the Catholic University of Louvain, and Masters in Globalization and Law, and European Law from Maastricht University. Hannelore speaks Dutch, English, and French.
Celeste Scarpini recently completed her post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex, where she pursued a MSc in Development Economics. She previously gained a Bachelor’s in Economic Development and International Cooperation, studying between the University of Florence and the University of Reading. During her studies, she devoted herself to the understanding of broad development challenges like poverty and inequality, and of policies to abate them. Her research interest are labour market policies, taxation, and instruments of social insurance, social assistance, and financial inclusion in developing countries. Before joining IDS, she worked as Research Assistant at the Department of Economics of the University of Sussex and as Economic Research Intern at UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA).
Mary Abounabhan completed her Masters of Globalisation, Business, and Development at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) focusing her research on the Moral Economy of social media taxation in Lebanon. Her time at IDS along with her private sector background working in SMEs has driven her to continue research on taxation as a Research Officer with the DIGITAX Programme. She has participated in research on inclusive trade, UK-India trade relationships, and earmarked taxes for food fortification.
Seid Yimam is based at the Institute of Development Studies, working as a Research Associate focusing on tax administration, gender and tax compliance, informal tax, and environmental taxes. Outside of the field of taxation, his main research areas are in contemporary development focusing on Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation. He holds an MSc in Economics (Policy Analysis) from Addis Ababa University and an MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen. He worked as a Research Officer at the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the Policy Study Institute (PSI), and he was also a lecturer of Economics at Debre Berehan University in Ethiopia prior to joining ICTD.
Professor Mick Moore is a political economist. His broad research interests are in the domestic and international dimensions of good and bad governance in poor countries, focusing specifically on taxation. He has done extensive field research in Africa and Asia, especially Sri Lanka, Taiwan and India. He is the founding CEO of the ICTD, Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, UK, and a Research Fellow of Verité Research in Sri Lanka. He is the co-author of Taxing Africa with Wilson Prichard and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad published by Zed Press London and HSRC Press Pretoria in 2018.
Professor Sol Picciotto (BA Oxford, JD Chicago) is an emeritus professor at Lancaster University, a Senior Adviser of the Tax Justice Network, coordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group, and a member of the UN Tax Committee’s subcommittee on dispute resolution. His research for the ICTD focuses on the taxation of transnational corporations with special reference to developing countries. Professor Picciotto has taught at the universities of Dar es Salaam (1964-1968), Tanzania, and at Warwick (1968-1992) and Lancaster (1992-2007), the United Kingdom. Professor Picciotto was also Scientific Director of the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (2009-2011). He is the author of International Business Taxation and Regulating Global Corporate Capitalism, and of several co-written books, as well as numerous chapters and articles on various international tax issues and other aspects of international business and economic law.
Professor Odd-Helge Fjeldstad is an economist working at CMI, Norway, focusing on public sector reforms, mainly related to taxation and revenue administration; including tax evasion, fiscal corruption, capital flight, intergovernmental fiscal relations, and local government tax reform. Fjeldstad has extensive experience from research and policy analysis in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Middle East. He has also been advisor for several African governments on public financial management, and has worked as consultant for bilateral and multilateral development organisations, including the FCDO, Norad, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OECD, IFC and the World Bank.
Michael C. Durst is a long-time US tax practitioner, an author on international taxation and developing countries, a former government official and law professor, and an ICTD researcher. He has practiced extensively in the field of international taxation, both in the private sector and in the US government, as Director of the IRS Advance Pricing Agreement Program. Michael has published many articles, in both academic and professional journals, on issues of international taxation, particularly as they affect developing countries. Recently, with support from ICTD, he has completed an extensive analysis of the legal and administrative aspects of implementing a system of unitary taxation.
Sripriya Iyengar Srivatsa is a Research Associate at ICTD working on the Gender and Tax project with a focus on tax compliance. Prior to this, she was an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the Ministry of Finance in Sierra Leone where her work has covered data-for-development, research capacity building initiatives, and studying the labour market implications of household care-burden in Sierra Leone. She is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge where her doctoral research agenda is closely tied to ICTD’s interests in the political economy of taxation and sub-national revenues. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Political Economy from SOAS, University of London, and previously worked as a legislative researcher in the Indian Parliament.
Nicolas ORGEIRA PILLAI is a Research Officer with LoGRI. His research focuses on local revenue mobilisation, with a particular interest in property taxation and tax compliance. Through the use of impact evaluation approaches and quantitative analysis, his work aims to support tax administrations in implementing state-building tax reforms that improves governance and the relationship between the government and the citizens. His projects also relate to tax administration, gender and taxation, and the informal economy. He holds a Master in Economics at the University of Toronto and is a doctoral candidate in Economics at the University of Sussex.
Rasmus Corlin Christensen was recently awarded his PhD from the Copenhagen Business School. His main research interest is in the political and professional foundations of the rules and practices of international taxation. Based in Copenhagen, Rasmus works with the ICTD as a consultant on research and policy engagement related to global negotiations on taxing the digitalising economy.
Dr Alexander Ezenagu is a consultant Research Associate for the ICTD and Assistant Professor at the College of Law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar. A trade and tax law expert, he specializes in international tax law, domestic taxes, tax avoidance and commercial aspects of illicit financial flows, trade and investment advisory. He obtained his Ph.D. in international tax law from McGill University, Canada, and holds a Master of Law degree (LL.M) from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
As a researcher, Alexander focuses on tax law and policy issues, with emphasis on the relationship between taxation and economic development and on the role of government and non-government institutions and actors in the creation of tax policy norms.
Dr. Mbakiso Magwape is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the ICTD. He is an International tax and trade lawyer, researching legal and political issues relating to taxation of multinational enterprises, rule-making, and multilateral trade and tax agreements with focus on development.
Prior to joining ICTD he was seconded to the International Beaurea of Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam. He served as a Principal Legal Officer, Legislation and Compliance at the Botswana Unified Revenue Service, where he drafted tax and trade-related legislation for Botswana, implemented international tax and trade instruments, and represented Botswana as a technical expert at a regional level.
Kelbesa Megersa holds a PhD in applied economics. He has an interest in broad areas of development research, with his main areas of expertise being in development finance, taxation, and private sector development in developing countries. Kelbesa has worked as a researcher at the Institute of Development Studies since 2019. Prior to that, Kelbesa worked as a doctoral and post-doctoral researcher linked to the Belgian Policy Research Group on Financing for Development at University of Namur. Kelbesa has years of policy research and consulting experience. He has provided research-based policy support for the development ministry of Belgium; the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and previously for the Department for International Development of the UK, among others.
Programme Management and Communications
James Murdoch is based at the Institute of Development Studies. Prior to joining ICTD, James worked in a variety of non-profits in numerous countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. Some of James’ previous positions include working as the Global Operations Manager of the Youth Career Initiative (YCI), the CEO of Camara Education Zambia, and the Communications and Fundraising Manager of Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation Vietnam. As the ICTD Programme Manager, James provides overall coordination and supervision for ICTD activities.
Rhiannon McCluskey is based at the Institute of Development Studies. She completed her MA in Governance and Development, writing her dissertation on the effectiveness of donor initiatives to build capacity in international taxation in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Kenya. She has also conducted research on social accountability for the Swiss Development Cooperation and the Making All Voices Count Programme. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the research uptake and communications strategy across the ICTD’s programmes. She leads on research dissemination via various channels, and is the primary contact for stakeholder relations and the media.
Moyo Arewa is the Programme Director for the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI). He was previously the Manager for Strategic Initiatives at (ICTD) and, before then, a Policy Development Officer at the City of Toronto. His tax research has focused on understanding how digital technologies impact tax policy, administration, and public service delivery.
Rebecca is the Programme Manager of the DIGITAX Programme, providing overall coordination and supervision of all DIGITAX activities. Her multi-disciplinary 10+ year career in International Development has bridged the gap between private sector development (financial sector and job creation) and social development (gender equality, youth empowerment, anti-racism and decolonisation). Alongside her work with DIGITAX, Rebecca also consults on topics linked to power, privilege and the intersection of racism and sexism in the International Development sector.
She has significant international experience working in low and middle income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America through consulting, programme management, research and analytical roles. She has previously worked with a range of donor and implementing organisations including the European Union, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Inter-agency Network of Education in Emergencies (INEE) and Plan International.
Oliver Roy is based at the Institute of Development Studies where he works as Project Coordinator within ICTD. Oliver is primarily responsible for coordinating the ICTD publications process and organising both internal and external events; he also provides general coordination and administrative support the wider ICTD team.
Rhea Millward-Thompson is based at the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, where she works as a Senior Project Officer on the DIGITAX programme within ICTD. She is responsible for providing project support, including with contracts, subcontracting, reporting and financial management; funder and partner liaison; and logistics, travel and events.
Amy is based at the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, where she works as a Project Manager within ICTD. She is responsible for financial administration, information management and travel management, as well as providing general support to the team. She holds a MSc in Applied International Development from the University of Reading, and prior to ICTD worked on multiple international research programmes. She also has operational experience of working within grassroots NGOs.
Texeira is based at the Institute of Development Studies. As a Project Support Officer, she assists the ICTD team with general administration including financial work, travel booking and meeting organising.
Prior to ICTD, Texeira worked at Itad where she assisted the Project Management Unit with project administration. She worked across the company supporting the Governance, FCAS, Gender, Inclusive Growth, Health and Climate Change themes with contractual and financial admin.
Amanda holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Global Studies and French Studies, as well as a Master’s degree in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh.
She is responsible for providing administrative and general support to the team with travel, events, research projects and information management.
Diana Szpotowicz is based at the Institute of Development Studies. She began her career as a journalist in Canada, working in television news as well as completing overseas assignments at several summer and winter Olympic Games. She earned her MSc Anthropology and Development Management degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2015 and has worked as a communications strategist for NGOs and government agencies in the international development sector for the past seven years. She always puts storytelling at the forefront of her work, including in an award-winning documentary film series on open data and modern farming practices.
Cian J. Ward is a Communications Assistant based at the Institute of Development Studies. He assists with the implementation of the communications strategy across the ICTD’s programmes. He completed his undergraduate in Economics & German from University College Dublin in 2019 and earned his MSc in Development Economics from the University of Kent in 2021.
Njeri Okono holds a Masters degree in Communication Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and Bachelor of Education. She has led and managed corporate communications in the international arena in various non-profit sector and inter-governmental organisations in the tropical world. This includes formulating and implementing strategies for communications, advocacy and engagement for entities working in research, development, civic engagement and public–private sector partnerships. Njeri leads strategic communications and engagement in ICTD’s DIGITAX Programme.
Priyanka is the Communications and Events Officer for the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI). She is responsible for developing the initiative’s engagement with external stakeholders and manages LoGRI’s communications, outreach, and knowledge translation mandate.
She has worked in the international development sector for over five years across communications, knowledge management, advocacy, and research roles. In her last role, she worked with Health Systems Global (HSG), where she helped manage HSG’s communications portfolio and deliver the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR2022) in Bogota, Colombia. Priyanka has extensive experience working with grassroots and global organizations in BMGF, USAID, and WHO-funded grants. Priyanka holds a BA (Hons) from University of Delhi, and a Master’s in Conflict, Security and Development from the University of Sussex.