Heini Suominen is a development economist with over a decade of experience in development issues in Africa and Asia, focusing on trade and inclusion. At UNU-WIDER, she works as a research assistant contributing to the Reducing Persistent Inequalities Across and Within Countries research area.
She has previously worked as an economist with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, where she focused on trade and gender, intra-African trade, and macroeconomic policies for structural transformation. Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, concentrating on transport facilitation issues and logistics policy. Heini also has experience in public health and social policy issues within the EU and the UK, as well as statistical and economic analysis in the financial sector.
She holds a BSc in Economics and Economic History from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics at the University of Helsinki, where her research focuses on the interaction between trade and macroeconomic policies and their effects on inequality, particularly in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area.