RTG 2654: Sustainable Food Systems

Nicolas M. Klas

I am a PhD candidate in the DFG-funded Research Training Group "Sustainable Food Systems" and work on the "Effects of Globalisation on Food Consumption and Nutrition (Subproject B3)" under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Krisztina Kis-Katos. In my research, I am mainly interested in the design of household-level development projects, in particular social protection programmes and their role to foster household resilience and shock-responsiveness. To this end, I work with household surveys & spatial data, and employ both experimental and quasi-experimental methods, as well as machine learning tools.


  • Development Economics
  • Agricultural Economics
  • Cash Transfer Programmes
  • Food Security
  • Weather Extremes


Education

  • 2024- Ph.D. in Development Economics, University of Göttingen, Germany
  • 2020-2023 M.Sc. in Economics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2021-2022 Erasmus Stay, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2016-2020 B.Sc. in European Economic Studies, University of Bamberg, Germany
  • 2018-2019 Erasmus Stay, University of Groningen, The Netherlands


Professional Experience

  • KfW Development Bank: Student Assistant, Evaluations Department
  • KfW Development Bank: Research Internship, Social Security in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Misereor e.V.: Research Internship, Africa/Middle East Department
  • University of Bamberg: Student Research Assistant, Chair for International Economics


DCE_choices Smallholder Reforestation in Madagascar
We investigate smallholder preferences for development projects drawing on the example of the PLAE reforestation programme in northwestern Madagascar. Using a discrete choice experiment, we ask what key attributes respondents value in the design of reforestation projects. We also delve specifically into the effect past experiences with reforestation initiatives have on the formation of households' preferences by interviewing both former participants and non-participants of PLAE, as well as whether households are willing to trade-off less preferred attributes.
The project is part of the BMZ-DEval funded rigorous impact evaluation "Ecological and Socio-Economic Effect of the Forest Restoration Program PLAE in Madagascar"(Project Website).
SriLanka_Tea Social Protection in Sri Lanka
We use quasi-experimental methods to provide the first assessment of Sri Lanka's new cash transfer programme Aswesuma. This project is a cooperation with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as part of the BRIGHT initiative in Sri Lanka (Project Website).

  • Nicolas Klas (2020), Loosening the Strings Attached: Cash Transfer Programmes in Development Cooperation, Misereor [PDF]

  • Vivien Hülsen, Nicolas Klas, Derek Headey, Dilusha Munasinghe, Immacolata Ranucci, Moe Sabai, Joanna van Asselt and Krishani Weerasinghe (2025), Accessing Aswesuma: Key Findings on Sri Lanka’s New Social Protection Program from the BRIGHT 2024-25 National Survey: IFPRI , BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note No. 6 [PDF]

  • "Geld geben und gut?! Warum sich Cash Transfers auch für NGOs lohnen", 2020, Misereor Blog


  • 2026: 3rd Development Economics Workshop Durham (UK)

  • "Farm Households‘ Resilience through Malawi’s SCTP", Brown Bag Lunch, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (July 2024, online)