Chair of Development Economics and Global Health
Welcome to our website! We are the development economics research group at the Centre for Modern Indian studies under the lead of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer. We study the linkages between health, education and poverty in low- and middle-income countries, in diverse collaborations with local governments, non-government organizations and other academic institutions. Furthermore, we support research projects as external evaluators and provide decision makers with policy advice based on our research. Our team’s background comprises a diverse range of key competencies and research foci. Find out more about our team, research or teaching.
Prof. Vollmer has received the Science Award Lower Saxony 2025
Sebastian Vollmer, Professor of Development Economics and Global Health at the University of Göttingen, has been awarded the Science Award Lower Saxony 2025 in the category “Application-Oriented Research”. ‘Vollmer's studies address acute global challenges and provide directly applicable insights for policymakers, international organisations and development programmes,’ the jury said in its statement. ‘The impact of his work on global population health is outstanding and of immense importance. Vollmer has an excellent international network and has been able to publish his outstanding research in prestigious journals.’ The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros. Lower Saxony's Minister of Science and Culture, Falko Mohrs, presented the awards on Thursday, November 13, in Hanover.
Medium-run impacts of iron-fortified school lunch on anemia, cognition, and learning outcomes in India
In a follow-up study to a trial previously published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, Liza von Grafenstein, Abhijeet Kumar, Santosh Kumar and Sebastian Vollmer examined the medium-run-effects of iron fortification in school lunch programmes on health and cognitive performance of children in India. The study shows that longer treatment duration (four years) resulted in higher haemoglobin levels and lower likelihood of anemia than shorter treatment duration (one and a half years). There were no significant differences for education or cognition outcomes. The study highlights the potential of fortified foods in school feeding programmes for increasing health outcomes of students and the importance of early treatment initiation. It appeared in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics.