And we're back.

I know; there hasn’t been a single post since I arrived in New York City last September (the start of the Fall 2011 semester). Now the semester is over and I left NYC again... and I am on my way to the DR Congo.

Last semester

Although short (around three months), it was a fantastic semester. You’re ready for a summary? I got three (!) field-projects approved by Columbia’s IRB. I worked on my dissertation (migration, cooperation, the impact of NGOs, etc.). Several papers were sent to conferences that will take place next year. With Macartan and Raul an R&R at a good journal was re-submitted (hopefully more on this in a future post). I presented my dissertation work at Columbia's CP workshop, and was discussant at CAPERS for a paper presented by Leonard Wantchekon. Together with colleague Neelan we worked out our network field experiment. An application for a bursary was sent out (I should hear from them soon so I’m keeping my fingers crossed). Today it was confirmed that I’ll be consulting for an evaluation undertaken by Wageningen University and the Dutch government in Congo. And it seems a book for which we are writing a chapter about Voix des Kivus is going to get published at Oxford University Press. I spent several days consulting for the IRC, and also worked with the IRC on a to-be project in Sierra Leone. I visited several of Columbia University's CP seminars, CP workshops and Political Economy breakfasts. Also, together with Massimo Morelli the last months I spent 3 times a week 2.5 hours in the gym. And I finally had a longer period of time in NYC so was able to see more of the city (for example the disappointing dinosaur exhibition in the Natural History Museum), and I had some fantastic weekends out of the city with friends. Oh and I even tried dating this semester (although little luck there). Thus a fantastic and busy semester, but I do feel that I didn't do enough. The reason is that I spent too little time on my dissertation proper. I’m a fifth year student and really should have a paper or three specifically on my dissertation finished by now. My thing for next semester!

Back to the Congo

So I’m heading back to the DRC? Yes. I’m now in Berlin at the Freie Universitaet to present our Voix des Kivus project and I’ll be in the Netherlands and London for a few days, but then the 31st of December I’m flying to the Congo. Actually I’m flying to Uganda; I didn’t have a lot of money so I'll try to find a bus from there to Bukavu. I will be in Sud Kivu for two months to do fieldwork specifically for my dissertation. More in the next posts! It's good to be back though.


A weekend in Massachusetts