“Spotlight on...” New Doctoral Researcher Francisco Ahumada Lobos

What is your main motivation to address the topic of your PhD?

My main motivation is to deepen our understanding of global supply chains, particularly the benefits and risks they carry at both micro- and macro-levels. Being the mining sector an important source of revenue for various countries and subnational regions, I focus on this sector. I plan to assess how the mining sector influences the local labor markets and household economies in regions close to the upstream segment of the chain. While also these transformations coexist with documented risks, including child labor and environmental issues such as deforestation.

What are you looking most forward to during your PhD studies?

I am looking forward to working closely with researchers at different career stages and from different backgrounds and learning from them. At the same time, I am keen to learn new methods and deepen my understanding of the approaches I already use.

What would you like the impact of your project to be?

I would like my research to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how economies engage in global supply chains. While advancing academic literature is an important goal, I also hope that the evidence generated by my project can inform policymakers working in international organizations, as well as at the national and local levels.

Qualitative or quantitative:

Quantitative, I enjoy working with databases that can reveal both cross-country and within-country transformations.

Big conference or small workshop:

Small workshop, as they allow for more personal exchange of ideas and feedback.