Akua Martinson (ESR 10) has successfully defended her PhD thesis titled "Essays on Job Creation and Poverty Reduction in Africa" on June, 17, 2026. The defense took place at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) of Ruhr-University Bochum. Akua has been awarded a joint degree of a Philosophiae Doctor (Ph.D.) from Ruhr-University Bochum and the University Paris 1 Sorbonne.
Akua's thesis was jointly supervised by Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein (RUB) and Prof. Rémi Bazillier (Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne). Her thesis was part of the work package "analysing interactions between poverty reduction and other policy areas." The examination committee consisted of examination committee consisted of the two supervisors Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein and Prof. Rémi Bazillier as well as Prof. Anthony Black (University of Cape Town), Prof. Jann Lay (German Institute for Global and Area Studies, GIGA), and Prof. Célestin Monga (Harvard Kennedy School).