Leaders

The project lead team at TalTech and UNIL comprise researchers with a strong international track record in the topic areas of the project

• Aaro Hazak (TalTech, Project Leader, Head of WP1 and starting from 2019 WP5), Professor of Institutional Economics, has led several research grant projects and applied studies on the regulatory and broader institutional context of development into knowledge economies, company survival and investment decisions. He has conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). He has been a visiting fellow at Macquarie University (Australia), and a visiting professor at several universities in emerging countries, including National University of Laos (Laos), Tribhuvan University (Nepal), Buenos Aires University (Argentina) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), doing research, developing new courses and  lecturing on topics closely related to the project.

  

• Kadri Männasoo (TalTech, Head of WP2), Professor of Microeconometrics and Head of the Department of Economics and Finance, has extensive research experience on the drivers of R&D activities in emerging markets in comparison to European developed economies. She has a broad international research network, and for example Männasoo and Mayes (2009) has been listed among the 1% of most cited authors in economics (Essential Science Indicators Citations Report). She has a Master degree from Stockholm University (Sweden) and PhD from the University of Tartu (Estonia). She has been a visiting scholar at Hamburg University (Germany) and the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (Finland).

  

• Karin Jõeveer  (TalTech, Co-Head of WP3), Associate Professor of Finance and Banking, joined TalTech in 2014 from London School of Economics (UK), having previously been a staff member at Queen's University Belfast (UK) and Keele University (UK). She has her Master and PhD degrees from CERGE-EI (Czech Republic) and her research is primarily focussed on the performance of the financial sector in emerging-market economies, including the efficiency of lending institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises in transition economies.

  

• Tanel Kerikmäe (TalTech, Head of WP4), Jean Monnet Professor in European Law and Head of TalTech Department of Law, has been active as legal expert for various public and private institutions and international organizations. He has extensive professional experience with transition countries, having been the EU key constitutional law expert in Central Asia (2009-2010), and being in charge of several development aid projects to raise competitiveness in the EU neighbourhood countries. He has been teaching and supervising PhD theses at several universities internationally, including in the UK, Switzerland, as well as transition countries such as Cambodia and Kyrgyzstan.

  

• Karsten Staehr  (TalTech, Head of WP5 in 2017-2018), Professor of International and Public Economics, has his Master degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and PhD from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). He has a strong publication record in collaboration with international research partners on macroeconomic and institutional aspects of economic transition based on the Central and Eastern European experience. He has been leading numerous grant projects on the causes and consequences of shorter-term economic performance in European emerging economies. He has previous work experience from universities (Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia), central banks (Estonia, Finland, Norway), and the World Bank. He has advised on research methodology curriculum development at universities in Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

  

• Andreas R. Ziegler (UNIL, Co-Head of WP6) is currently a Professor of International Law and the Director of the LLM Program in International and European Economic and Commercial Law at the University of Lausanne. Previously he was a civil servant working for several Swiss Ministries and international organizations. He has published widely on European law, public international law, on international courts and tribunals, as well as trade and investment. He regularly advises Governments, International Organizations, NGOs and private clients and has represented them before various domestic and international courts and arbitral tribunals. He is counsel with a law firm specialized in economic and business law (Blum & Grob Attorneys-at-law, Zurich) and on the permanent roster of panelists of the WTO and ICSID.

  

• Katrin Nyman-Metcalf (TalTech, Co-Head of WP6), Professor of International and Comparative Law, has been a regular visiting professor at universities in Sweden, Georgia and Latvia. She has her PhD from Uppsala University (Sweden) and she has published extensively on international and EU law and countries in transition. Apart from academic work, Professor Nyman-Metcalf has over 15 years of international consultancy experience in the areas of ICT law and setting up of regulatory systems. She has acted as team leader of an EU project advising the Albanian National Agency for Information Society, and a project supporting e-governance in Albania and Kosovo. She has carried out training on communications related legal issues in Armenia, Iraq, Jordan, Moldova and other developing countries.

  

The project activities on behalf of the South East Asian partners are coordinated by dedicated research-oriented young scholars with significant managerial and international experience:

• Phouphet Kyophilavong (NUOL) is Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Management at NUOL. He received his PhD in economics from Kobe University (Japan) in 2003, and he has researched and published on macroeconomic management, economic integration, poverty reduction and other areas. He has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University (USA) as well as a visiting scholar at Pukyong National University (South Korea), Nagoya University (Japan), University of Laval (Canada), and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). He has led numerous research projects, he works closely with Lao government agencies as well as international organisations, and he is Editor in Chief of the Lao Journal of Economics and Management.

  

• Trần Việt Dũng (HCMCUL) is Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of International Law at HCMCUL. He has studied International Trade Policy at Harvard University (USA) and he received his PhD in law from the National University of Singapore. Prior to joining the academia, he was the Managing Director of KhattarWong (Vietnam) as well as Senior Legal Consultant for the Ho Chi Minh City Information Technology Management Office. He has been a visiting scholar at Singapore Management University (Singapore) and Chonnam National University (South Korea), and Adjunct Professor at the University of the West of England (UK). His research interests relate to international trade law, international competition law and policy, globalisation and law, and investment law.

  

• Kimsan Soy (RULE) is the Director for the Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law at RULE. He holds a Master of Law from South Korea and a Master in Human Rights and Democratisation from the University of Sydney, Australia. His current research focuses on a wide range of human rights and institutional efficiency issues, particularly gender equality, labor rights, judicial independence, fair trial and access to justice.