We welcome our two new oikos PhD fellows - Tim and Shailee. They are as different as two individuals can be. Tim grew up in the low mountains of the black forest whereas Shailee was born and raised in Kathmandu, the heartland of the Himalayas.

As part of an expedition he initiated, Tim travelled extensively in developing countries around the globe (www.expedition-welt.de). As part of her education endeavour, Shailee left Nepal when she was 19 to pursue her higher studies in the US.

 

Tim loves theories and can mull over an abstract term or concept and theorize about any and everything; though he has a business economics background, he will be drawing on social theory and discursive approaches in his PhD while doing so he loves to merge the social with the entrepreneurial world. Shailee is in her comfort zone when she sees numbers and equations; she is excited about analyzing cross-country data sets on assessing growth spillovers and the impact of regional trading agreements on economic growth. Tim loves mountaineering and snow-boarding and feels at home when he is surrounded by snow; Shailee loves the tropical sun and wants to have a beach hut somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand. However, Shailee is excited to join Tim on his climbing tours while Tim hopes that Shailee will bring some tropical atmosphere to the nearby Lake Constance.

 

Despite their differences, the two have at least one thing in common besides their backgrounds in economics and the passion for sustainability and social entrepreneurship - their love for spicy food, especially Southeast Asian cuisine. If you want to know more about them or contact them you will find more information about them on their profile websites. Both will be happy to answer any oikos related questions –  Tim as an oikos alumnus has a long track record in chapter work and Shailee is happy to make a deep dive into our oikos work in particular to strengthen our  chapters and affiliations in Asia.