NATURAL
RESOURCES
INSTITUTE

Knowledge for a sustainable world


Professor Tilman Brück

MA Hons, MPhil, DPhil
Biography

Professor Tilman Brück is a leading expert for the study of individual behaviour and welfare in crisis settings. Tilman is a Visiting Professor at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, a Professor of Economic Development and Food Security at Humboldt-University of Berlin, Head of the Research Group “Economic Development and Food Security” at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops in Großbeeren near Berlin, and Founder and Director of ISDC - International Security and Development Center in Berlin (www.isdc.org). Tilman is also a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Households in Conflict Network (www.hicn.org). His research focuses on the behaviour and the welfare of poor and vulnerable households in insecure, violent, fragile and humanitarian emergency settings, often collecting and analysing micro-level panel data and conducting impact evaluations. Tilman is the principal investigator of the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study (https://lifeinkyrgyzstan.org/) and the Life with Corona Survey (https://lifewithcorona.org/) – and a regular advisor to governments, international organisations and NGOs. He was previously Professor of Food Security, State Fragility and Climate Change at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Professor of Development Economics at Humboldt-University of Berlin, and a Founding Member of the Global Young Academy (https://globalyoungacademy.net/). Tilman obtained a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford.

Professor Brück’s research focuses on how people cope with extreme adversity, from violent conflict, insecurity, state fragility and weak institutions to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. He has pioneered the quantitative micro-level analysis of violent conflict, developing methods to identify the causal impacts of shocks and uncertainty on human behaviour and welfare. In recent years, he has expanded this view of variable ‘conflict exposure’ at the individual level to other settings of extreme uncertainty, such as natural disasters and pandemics. He has also developed tools for conducting rigorous impact evaluations to learn if and how interventions in conflict and fragile settings can improve food security and human development. Professor Brück values long-term longitudinal (or panel) studies and has contributed to many such studies around the world, leading, for example, a panel established in 2010 in Kyrgyzstan. Many of his research projects combine multiple methods and data sources as a way of learning about important contextual and institutional factors.

  • Regassa, M. D. and T. Brück (2022). “Usefulness and misrepresentation of phone surveys on COVID-19 and food security in Africa”. Food Security, forthcoming.
  • Baliki, G., P. Schreinemachers, T. Brück and N. Md. Uddin (2022). “Impacts of a home garden intervention in Bangladesh after one, three and six years”. Agriculture & Food Security, vol. 11, no. 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00388-z
  • Stojetz, W., N. T. N. Ferguson, G. Baliki, O. Diaz Botía, J. Elfes, D. Esenaliev, H. Freudenreich, A. Koebach, L. Lopes de Abreu, L. Peitz, A. Todua, M. Schreiner, A. Hoeffler, P. Justino and T. Brück (2022). “The Life with Corona Survey”. Social Science & Medicine, vol. 306, no. 115109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115109
  • Baliki, G., T. Brück, N. T. N. Ferguson and S. W. Kebede (2022). “Micro-Foundations of Fragility: Concepts, Measurement and Application”. Review of Development Economics, vol. 26, pp. 639-60. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12876
  • Brück, T. and M. Hennicke (2022). “Ethnic Inequality and Forced Displacement.” PLoS ONE, 17(4): e0266448. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266448
  • Freudenreich, H., A. Aladysheva and T. Brück (2022). “Weather shocks across seasons and child health: Evidence from a panel study in the Kyrgyz Republic”. World Development, 155: 105801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105801
  • de Groot, O. J., C. Bozzoli, A. Alamir and T. Brück (2022). “The Global Economic Burden of Violent Conflict”. Journal of Peace Research, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 259-76. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00223433211046823
  • Abreu, L., A. Koebach, O. M. Días Botía, S. Carleial, A. Hoeffler, W. Stojetz, H. Freudenreich, P. Justino and T. Brück (2021). „Life with Corona: Increased gender differences in aggression and depression symptoms due to the COVID-19 pandemic burden in Germany„. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, no. 2705. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689396
  • Larsen M. M., K. Boehnke, D. Esenaliev and T. Brück (2021). "Social cohesion, ethnicity and well-being: Results from an intervention study in Kyrgyzstan". Cultural-Historical Psychology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 46-55. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2021170405
  • Schreinemachers, P., R. M. Shrestha, B. Gole, D. R. Bhattarai, P. L. Ghimire, B. P. Subedi, T. Brück, G. Baliki, I. P. Gautam and C. E. Blake (2021). “Drivers of food choice among children and caregivers in post-earthquake Nepal“. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 826-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2021.1969925
  • Brück, T., N. T. N. Ferguson, V. Izzi and W. Stojetz (2021). “Can Jobs Programs Build Peace?” World Bank Research Observer, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 234-59. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkaa004
  • Schreinemachers, P., G. Baliki, R. M. Shrestha, D. R. Bhattarai, I. P. Gautam, P. L. Ghimire, B. P. Subedi and T. Brück (2020). "Nudging children toward healthier food choices: An experiment combining school and home gardens" Global Food Security, vol. 26, September, 100454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100454
  • Brück, T. and N. T. N. Ferguson (2020). “Money Can’t Buy Love but Can It Buy Peace? Evidence from PEACE II”. Conflict Management and Peace Science, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 536-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0738894218766865
  • Larsen, M., D. Esenaliev, T. Brück and K. Boehnke (2020). “The Connection Between Social Cohesion and Personality: A Multilevel Study in the Kyrgyz Republic“. International Journal of Psychology, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 42-51. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12551
  • Brück, T., O. M. Días Botía, N. T. N. Ferguson, J. Ouédraogo and Z. Ziegelhöfer (2019). “Assets for Alimentation? The Nutritional Impact of Assets-Based Programming in Niger.” Journal of Development Studies, vol. 55, no. sup1, pp. 55-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2019.1687876
  • Baliki, G., T. Brück, P. Schreinemachers and M. N. Uddin (2019). “Long-term Behavioral Impact of an Integrated Home Garden Intervention: Evidence from Bangladesh”. Food Security, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1217-1230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00969-0
  • Kraehnert, K., T. Brück, M. Di Maio and R. Nisticò (2019). “The Effects of Conflict on Fertility: Evidence from the Genocide in Rwanda”. Demography, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 935-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-019-00780-8
  • Brück, T., M. Di Maio and S. Miaari (2019). “Learning the Hard Way: The Effect of Violent Conflict on Student Academic Achievement”. Journal of the European Economic Association, in press. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvy051
  • Brück, T., M. d'Errico and R. Pietrelli (2019). “The Effects of Violent Conflict on Household Resilience and Food Security: Evidence from the 2014 Gaza Conflict”. World Development, vol. 119, pp. 203-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.008
  • Ferguson, N. T. N., E. Nillesen and T. Brück (2019). “Can Employment Build Peace? A Pseudo-meta-analysis of Employment Programmes in Africa“. Economics Letters, vol. 180, pp. 99-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.03.033
  • Verwimp, P., P. Justino and T. Brück (2019). “The Microeconomics of Violent Conflict”. Journal of Development Economics, vol. 141, in press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.10.005
  • Brück, T. and N. T. N. Ferguson (2018). “Money Can’t Buy Love but Can It Buy Peace? Evidence from PEACE II”. Conflict Management and Peace Science, in press. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0738894218766865
  • Brück, T. and D. Esenaliev (2018). “Post-Socialist Transition and the Intergenerational Transmission of Education in Kyrgyzstan”. Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 61-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecot.12136
  • Puri, J., A. Aladysheva, V. Iversen, Y. Ghorpade and T. Brück (2017). “Can Rigorous Impact Evaluations Improve Humanitarian Assistance?”. Journal of Development Effectiveness, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 519-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2017.1388267
  • Bircan, C., T. Brück and M. Vothknecht (2017). “Violent Conflict and Inequality”. Oxford Development Studies, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 125-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2016.1213227
  • Brück, T., P. Justino, P. Verwimp, A. Avdeenko and A. Tedesco (2016): “Measuring Violent Conflict in Micro-Level Surveys: Current Practices and Methodological Challenges”. World Bank Research Observer, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 29-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkv011
  • Bozzoli, C., T. Brück and T. Muhumuza (2016). “Activity Choices of Internally Displaced Persons and Returnees: Quantitative Survey Evidence from Post-War Northern Uganda”. Bulletin of Economic Research, vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 329-47. https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.12056
  • Brück, T., D. Esenaliev, A. Kroeger, A. Kudebayeva, B. Mirkasimov and S. Steiner (2014): “Household Survey Data for Research on Well-Being and Behavior in Central Asia”. Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 819-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2013.02.003
  • Justino, P., T. Brück and P. Verwimp, eds. (2013). A Micro-Level Perspective on the Dynamics of Conflict, Violence and Development. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  • Acceptance into the Heisenberg-Programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), from March 2020
  • Member of the IDP Sub-Group, International Expert Group on Refugee and IDP Statistics (EGRIS), Joint IDP Profiling Service, since August 2018
  • Member of the International Evaluation Panel for Economics in Norway, Norwegian Research Council, 2017
  • Member of the International Advisory Council, Institute for Economics and Peace, since 2013
  • Member of the Board, Global Young Academy, 2010 - 2012
  • Founding Fellow, Global Young Academy, 2010 - 2014
  • Chair of the Board, Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Sciences), 2009 - 2010
  • "IAP Award for Young Scientists 2008” by the InterAcademy Panel and TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world (prize worth 10.000 USD), 2008
  • Nominated as "Distinguished Young Scientist” by the "InterAcademy Panel Conference of Young Leaders in STI – 2008” at the World Economic Forum’s "Annual Meeting of the New Champions”, Tianjin, China, September 2008
  • Elected Member, Development Economics Committee, German Economic Association, since 2008
  • Elected Fellow, Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Sciences), 2007 – 2012
  • "Best Article Award” by the Development Studies Association (DSA) for "Poverty during Transition: Household Survey Evidence from Ukraine”, 2007
  • Doctoral Scholarship by German Studienstiftung Foundation, 1997 - 2000
  • Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship, 1994 – 1996
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