Caroline Hambloch

Caroline Hambloch is a Research Group Leader at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, University of Bonn, where she leads the DFG-funded Emmy Noether Junior Research Group titled Local Labor Struggles in Global Value Chains. Her research investigates labor control, agency, and resistance among smallholders and farmworkers in export-oriented agricultural sectors across the Global South, with fieldwork in Colombia, Malawi, and the Philippines.

Education:

• PhD in Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (2015–2019)
• MSc in Economics, University of Copenhagen (2013–2015)
• BSc in Economics and Business Economics, University Maastricht (2009–2012)

Her research interests lie at the intersection of agrarian political economy, global value chains, contract farming, food security, and gender-sensitive development. She critically analyzes how smallholder farmers and agricultural laborers navigate power asymmetries in global commodity systems, emphasizing everyday resistance and agency. Her work integrates interdisciplinary methods from economics, development studies, and political ecology.

The most recent publications reflect a strong trend in analyzing the political economy of agri-food systems, with a focus on contract farming, land use conflicts, nutrition-sensitive interventions, and the socio-ecological impacts of agricultural modernization. Her scholarship consistently challenges technocratic solutions, advocating for structural and equity-centered approaches to food system transformation.

Scientific Awards:

• Humboldt Award for Excellence in Teaching (2023)
• Finalist, Excellence in Teaching Award for 'Collaborative Learning and Teaching' (2022)
• David Burch Prize for Best Student Paper (2018)

Caroline Hambloch supervises three PhD students and has secured significant third-party funding, including the prestigious DFG Emmy Noether grant and a DFG-TWAS Fellowship. She has taught at SOAS, University of London, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, offering courses on farm management, agrifood chains, and nutrition-sensitive value chains. She is an active reviewer for leading journals such as Journal of Agrarian Change, Food Security, and Development and Change.

Her research is conducted within the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, where her group explores labor struggles in global value chains, linking local agrarian relations to broader structures of dependency and exploitation.