I study the political economy of state-building and governance in low-capacity contexts, where governments struggle to enforce their policies. My current work focuses on fiscal capacity and traditional political institutions in Sierra Leone (where I have spent over four years living and working), collects original quantitative and qualitative data, uses field experiments to answer causal questions, and involves collaborations with local government and civil society partners.

My research has been supported by the International Growth Centre, the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), and UCLA’s Dissertation Year Fellowship. At UCLA I was a 2021-2022 C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellow and a 2023 UCLA Keck Graduate Fellow.

I am currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. I was formerly a Pre/Postdoctoral Fellow at the Local Government Revenue Initiative, an initiative of the ICTD. I received my PhD in Political Science from UCLA in 2024.