Two PhD students at the UB School of Economics awarded SEBAP researcher mobility grants

PhD students at the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics Hoon Choi and Nicolás González Pampillón have each been awarded researcher mobility grants by the Barcelona Economic Society of Friends of the Country (SEBAP). The grant scheme provides funding for teaching and research staff and PhD students at Catalan universities and research centres to undertake an academic stay at a foreign institution in order to prepare research projects relating to the economic development of Barcelona and its surroundings. The prize ceremony took place at the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Hall.

Hoon Choi will join the University of Melbourne for three months, from end of May to end of August. During his stay, he will conduct research on the effect of tuition fees on university enrolment. A comparative case study between Seoul and Barcelona will be performed, which will highlight the effects of two different educational policies. These have led to a reduction of tuition fees at universities in Seoul and an increase in Barcelona. Hoon Choi is currently a PhD student at the UB School of Economics. His thesis explores and evaluates three reform policies in Korea, including one labour reform and two education reforms.

Nicolás González Pampillón will be hosted by the Paris School of Economics (PSE), from April to June. In his PhD thesis, he explores the impact of urban infrastructure investments on the demographic composition of cities and neighbourhoods. His stay in Paris will help him polish the first part of his dissertation, which focus on the effects of population dynamics of urban renewal policies in neighbourhoods that concentrate large and growing immigrant populations in Catalonia. Nicolás González Pampillon will be working with Laurent Gobillon and will be in contact with Miren Lafourcade, both experts in place-based policies and investment. He also plans to present his work in internal seminars at the PSE.

---