NOVAFRICA Postdoc Spotlight: Marion Richard
Marion Richard is a postdoctoral researcher at NOVAFRICA, Nova School of Business and Economics. In the latest edition of our People of NOVAFRICA series, we spoke with Marion to discuss her journey into development economics, her past research projects, what it’s like to be a postdoc at NOVAFRICA, and the exciting new projects she’s currently working on.
What drew you to the field of development economics, and what led you to focus on topics such as conflict, colonial legacies and migration?
My interest in development economics began with a focus on international migration. During my undergraduate studies at Sciences Po, the Syrian civil war and Europe’s so-called migration crisis brought the issue to the forefront. I joined a student group working with the NGO SINGA, which supported refugee integration through entrepreneurship. We helped match refugee entrepreneurs with students offering skills in law, marketing, and business development. I remember Rooh Savar, an Iranian journalist who launched a media outlet; Massoud, who dreamed of opening an Afghan restaurant; and Hamze, who started a consulting company. They were driven and immensely talented,many of them succeeded—but to what extent we helped, I’m not sure… we didn’t exactly randomize our support.That experience made me want to better understand what works, and why. After taking a class in impact evaluation, I realized that rigorous empirical tools were exactly what I needed, and I transitioned from international relations to development economics at the Paris School of Economics.
Since then, a central question in my work has been how migration, both internal and international can serve as a tool for poverty alleviation, and what barriers prevent people from moving. My early research in Mali, guided by Flore Gubert, explored how gendered social norms constrained women’s mobility. Conducting fieldwork there, I became interested in how conflict disrupts long-standing migration strategies, as violence in the Sahel increasingly forces people to alter or abandon traditional routes. This led me to examine how regional military cooperation among Sahel countries affected local insecurity, finding that joint operations did reduce violence in border areas. My research on colonial legacies developed more recently, shaped by my work in Mali and a desire to understand long-term institutional effects. With co-authors Ismaël Yacoubou Djima and Zhexun Mo, we used French military archives to trace villages impacted by colonial coercion. We found that these areas had persistently lower primary school enrollment—likely due to the association of French-language education with colonial power. Across these themes, I remain driven by a core motivation: understanding how history, conflict, and policy shape people’s opportunities to move, adapt, and thrive.
What inspired you to pursue a PhD in Economics, and what led you to continue with a postdoc at NovaSBE, NOVAFRICA?
Doing a PhD felt like a natural next step for me. I had already worked on research-related projects—first at the OECD, and then at a data and research firm called Laterite in Rwanda, and I realized that to really engage with the questions I was interested in, I needed more training and autonomy. The PhD gave me the tools and space to do just that, and I do feel much better equipped now to contribute meaningfully to research in development economics.The postdoc at NOVAFRICA has been a fantastic opportunity. It gives me time to focus fully on research, and I now have both more experience and more confidence navigating the ups and downs of the research process. Being in closer contact with faculty than I was as a PhD student also makes a big difference—there’s a great balance of independence and mentorship here, and I really appreciate that.
How did you first get connected to NOVAFRICA?
I first got connected to NOVAFRICA through the Migration and Development Conference in 2022, I was obviously very impressed by the NOVA SBE campus, but also by the very large network of NOVAFRICA in those fields that are at the core of my research agenda. That network has continued to impress me and be very helpful to get feedback on my research, I mean, NOVAFRICA manages to get these top researchers from around the world coming to present, as recently with the CEPR Annual Development Symposium, and I get to discuss my work in the best possible environment. Alex Armand also came to my university in UCLouvain to present his work on natural resources discovery and conflict in Mozambique with Pedro Vincente, and I remember thinking this is amazing, I mean they just conducted an information campaign and find huge effect on conflict reduction, this is the kind of policy relevant research project I want to be involved in. I was also familiar with the work of Catia Batista in migration, and the span of fieldwork conducted by NOVAFRICA, even the PhD students, is quite impressive.
What kinds of resources—data access, field networks, collaborations—have been most valuable to you at NOVAFRICA?
My collaboration with Alex Armand and Yannik Schenk at NOVAFRICA within the ERC Ocean Team has been a great opportunity to learn about different methods of analysis, particularly radio signal propagation methods, method which we use to estimate the effect of family planning radio programs on contraceptive use in Malawi. I guess another skill necessary to conduct research, field research in particular, is fund raising, and I must say I learned quite a lot in the past year from my colleagues to this regard. We received funding from the FCT to collect data in Malawi, and the support of the Research and Funding Office at NOVA allowed be to get the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship. In addition to this collaboration, I’ve learned a great deal from my discussions with faculty, postdocs, and PhD students, especially about their fieldwork in Mozambique, Cabo Verde, and Guinea-Bissau. I find it particularly impressive how NOVAFRICA researchers are able to establish institutional partnerships with a diverse range of public and private actors in these countries.
Can you tell us about your current projects and any working papers you’re developing?
In the coming years, I’ll be focusing on environmental topics and their intersection with themes I’ve worked on in the past—namely, migration and conflict. My research agenda revolves around two core areas: oceans and forests. On the ocean side, I’m part of the ERC Ocean Team led by Alex Armand. We’re investigating how water pollution affects coastal communities that rely heavily on fishing for their livelihoods. We’re also studying the role of marine protected areas in shielding small-scale fishermen from the pressures of industrial fishing, and the political economy of enforcement of protected areas. Parallel to this, my Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Fellowship will focus on forests, particularly the socio-economic effects of conservation policies in developing countries. I’ll be studying the impact of REDD+ programs and deforestation-related regulation on household welfare and local land-use dynamics. A key focus of my MSCA project will also be on the governance of these conservation efforts: understanding how institutions shape implementation, and ensuring that the incentives and benefits of conservation are fairly distributed across communities.
You’ve worked with diverse data sources—from household surveys to census and archival records—across regions like the Sahel and East Africa. What are some insights or challenges you’ve encountered while working with this data?
Each type of data comes with its own strengths and challenges. Household surveys like the DHS are incredibly valuable, especially for cross-country comparisons—some national surveys are more suited to measure migration, but definitions and sampling frames can change between waves, which requires careful harmonization. Geocoded data is definitely a game changer that allows you to carry out analysis irrespective of administrative reforms. Archival data was a very different experience. For the project on colonial legacies in Mali, we digitized about 200 000 individuals soldiers files, that were stored in a military caserne in Pau, South of France. While we worked with a team of research assistants to digitalis the files, and then had to contract a company for processing the digitized documents with AI. This requires a large budget, and the long-term storage of all of this data is yet another factor. So of course this involves a costs nothing compare to downloading a dataset, but as it has never been explored, it can also give much more learning potential.
You’ve also consulted with institutions like the OECD and IRD. How have these experiences shaped your approach to research and its policy relevance?
Both experiences definitely shaped how I think about the connection between research and policy. At the OECD, I contributed to a policy report on migration and development. It became very clear to me how much these types of reports are guided by the existing academic literature and how research can reach policymakers in more indirect but meaningful ways. That experience encouraged me to think carefully about how to frame my own research questions and findings to make them more accessible and relevant for policy audiences. At IRD, I participated in a forum with INSTAT (Mali’s national statistics office) focused on measuring migration. One insight that stayed with me was how the focus of policy institutions often reflects measurement priorities. For example, remittances are relatively easy to measure and therefore take center stage in many migration surveys, while topics like female migration—which might not be as easily captured in standard indicators can get sidelined. That really highlighted the importance of critically engaging with both what is measured and what gets left out, and how research can help push those boundaries.
What advice would you give to PhD students or early-career researchers considering a postdoc in development economics, particularly within research centers like NOVAFRICA?
Absolutely go for it. A postdoc is an incredible opportunity to focus fully on your research and make meaningful progress before teaching responsibilities ramp up. I’d also recommend talking to people around you—faculty, peers, recent postdocs—to identify researchers leading projects that genuinely interest you and align with your future research agenda. Being part of an active research environment like NOVAFRICA can really help you grow and connect with a broader academic and policy community.
Marion at the 2024 NOVAFRICA Conference on Economic Development
AUTHORED BY: Mercy Uba
