Dr. Micheline Goedhuys is senior research fellow and director of the PhD programme at the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Micheline is an expert on empowerment, entrepreneurship, innovation, SME development and growth in the MENA region and Sub-Sahara Africa.
Micheline Goedhuys holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Leuven in Belgium and has held previous positions at the ILO in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and at the Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, Belgium. As researcher Dr. Goedhuys applies econometric techniques to microdata, exploring the intricate dynamics of innovation, standards, systemic failures, resource constraints, and corruption on firm growth, productivity, exports, and employment creation. Her extensive research in these areas has been widely published, and she has co-edited special issues in the European Journal of Development Research (2008), Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (2012), and Eurasian Business Review (2016). As an expert in the impact evaluation of development policies and programs, Dr. Goedhuys has led several high-profile, externally funded research projects. These include a comprehensive AFD-funded impact evaluation of the Tunisian Ministry of Public Works' infrastructure upgrading programme carried out in 146 disadvantaged neighbourhoods, an EIB-funded design study for the impact evaluation of the JIRAMA III water network extension in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and the evaluability study for the Dutch RVO on building four ports on Lake Kivu, Rwanda, completed in 2021. Her research findings have been featured in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals like the Journal of Development Economics and World Development. She, along with her co-authors, received the Journal of Economic Psychology's Best Paper of 2020 award. Currently, Dr. Goedhuys manages the UNU-MERIT PhD programme, catering to over 120 fellows, many from the global South. She oversees both the Full-Time track for resident PhD fellows and the Dual Career track, designed for professionals balancing work with doctoral research.