Astrid is currently a Senior Country Economist and Manager of the Cities that Work Initiative, working with the International Growth Centre (IGC), where she manages and carries out policy-based research on cities based on demand from the government, across Africa and Asia. Her current research specializes on policy related questions in urban economics, specifically in the areas of municipal finance, urban mobility and land tenure. Prior to joining the IGC, she worked for Innovations for Poverty Action as well as for Evidence Action, which included work in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi. Astrid has also worked as an analyst on a large-scale agriculture project in South Sudan and as an Economist in the Ministry of East African Community in Kenya. She holds an MA in International Economics and International Development from Johns Hopkins University (in Italy and the USA). In 2016, she was nominated by the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town as one of Africa’s Young Leaders. She is now undertaking her PhD in the Innovative Governance of Large Urban Systems from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland).