Linda is Research Fellow in the International Development Programme at ODI. A development economist by training, her research interests include industrialisation and economic transformation, private sector development and investment, and industrial policy; and Global China, including China’s economic footprint in low- and middle-income countries, its role in global development and the Belt and Road Initiative. A fluent Mandarin speaker, she is also interested in China-Africa issues.

Linda has experience in ‘research into policy’, having worked both in government and with governments and advising them on how to use research findings to inform policy. Before joining ODI, she worked as a consultant on economic policy and strategy, as a Rwanda Country Economist for the International Growth Centre, and as an economist for the Ministry of East African Community Affairs in Uganda.

Prior to moving to London, Linda spent four years in East Africa (Uganda and Rwanda) working with government and research organisations. At ODI, she has conducted extensive primary data collection in East Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.

Linda has published several journal articles, book chapters and reports, and is a frequent commentator in the media. She received her MSc Development Economics from Sapienza University of Rome and SOAS University of London, and is currently a Leverhulme Doctoral Fellow at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London.