SJ (Saskia) Titulaer, MSc

I obtained my BSc (cum laude) in Economics and Business Economics from Maastricht University, with a specialisation in Emerging Markets and a research thesis investigating perceptions of gender roles amongst agriculture students in Ethiopia. I then further developed my expertise in development with a MSc (cum laude) in International Development Studies and Economics here at Wageningen University and Research. During that degree, I worked on two research projects: my thesis explored the incidence of gendered empowerment amongst Nigerian smallholder farms, and I also conducted a research practice at the Economic and Environmental History group with Daniel Gallardo Albarrán, focused on the impact of local political empowerment on public health spending in India during British colonial rule.

I am now conducting my PhD in Economic History under the supervision of Ewout Frankema and Daniel Gallardo Albarrán, with a topic which combines my long-term interest in women's empowerment and my newer exploration of the history of public health development, aiming to understand how women's suffrage impacted public health spending in Europe. This project is titled Empowered Women, Healthier Nations? How female political rights impacted public health spending in interwar Europe, and was awarded funding as part of the WASS Graduate Programme.