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Valentin Seidler is a political economist specializing in heterodox development economics and institutional change. He has extensive experience in international organisations, including the International Red Cross Movement, where he managed multi-stakeholder projects in Africa, South Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia. His professional background in post-conflict areas (Kosovo, Timor-Leste) and as the International Red Cross Representative to the European Commission informs his research on how historical legacies and bureaucratic agency determine the success of institutional reforms.
He received his PhD in Economics in 2011 and has since researched at the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien), the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, UC Berkeley, and the University of Warwick. His research focuses on fostering innovation in international cooperation, peacebuilding, and long-term economic development from a pluralistic and critical perspective.
As a policy advisor, Valentin has recently completed a study on dual education in international cooperation for the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) and contributes to an IOM expert group on skills mobility. He advises the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) on strategic partnerships and development narratives in Africa. Committed to the University’s "Third Mission," he also initiated and leads the Language Lab, a peer-mentoring programme that supports the labour market integration of displaced persons, including a significant number of Ukrainian refugees, by leveraging linguistic diversity for professional empowerment.
His research includes a joint project with WorldPop UK and Tufts University on the reliability of demographic data in Africa. This study, published in Nature Communications (2025), provides an internal critique of "data extractivism" by revealing how systematic biases in subnational data distribution hinder effective development planning for "last mile" populations.
Previously, Valentin explored the historical role of colonial officers in institutional reforms prior to independence. This research, which led to the establishment of the VOICES archive, utilizes archival research to deconstruct technocratic models and explain why top-down reforms often fail to account for ground-level realities. This work has been supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the Anniversary Fund of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB).