Lukas Wellner

Lukas Wellner is a Research Fellow at Monash University, affiliated with SoDa Laboratories. His research lies at the intersection of political economy and development, focusing on migration, foreign aid, public perceptions, and conflict through large datasets, spatial analysis, and applied econometrics to inform academic and policy debates.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen
• Master's degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science
• Undergraduate studies in Economics at the Universities of Bayreuth, Bordeaux, and São Paulo

Wellner's research examines how foreign aid influences migration flows and public support in recipient countries, investigates bureaucratic biases within international organizations, and analyzes conflict dynamics using quantitative methodologies. His work prioritizes policy relevance while advancing theoretical understanding in development contexts.

His publication trend reveals systematic analysis of aid effectiveness mechanisms, particularly how bureaucratic incentives shape organizational outcomes and how aid impacts migration decisions. These studies consistently employ advanced econometric techniques on large-scale datasets to uncover causal relationships.

Award recognition includes:

• Bojanovsky Prize (University of Mannheim, June 2025) for research on biased bureaucrats

At SoDa Laboratories, Wellner contributes to interdisciplinary data-driven research initiatives focused on social and economic challenges in developing regions, leveraging computational approaches to analyze complex development phenomena.