The School of Research is pleased to announce that Kunal Panda, a PhD student in economics at the Department of Economics at Sciences Po, will be welcomed to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) as part of a doctoral exchange programme. He will conduct part of his research there from January to April 2026.

Enrolled in the doctoral programme since 2023, Kunal Panda is developing a thesis entitled: Essays on Decolonial Development

He is interested in the comparative study of British and French colonialism in India and Morocco, respectively, using anthropometric indicators as a proxy for native welfare. 

His current research employs a framework to trace how the specific mode of colonial rule generates unique and enduring socioeconomic effects. In postcolonial India, he provides evidence that indirect extractive governance in the colonial era crippled state capacity. This institutional weakness resulted in a triad of persistent outcomes: household poverty, worse child and maternal health, and, critically, constrained health-seeking behaviour shaped by economic cost and household dynamics. In French Morocco, his co-authored work examines direct settler colonialism, demonstrating that European settlement crowded out native access to land and water, creating a different pathway of native immiseration. Together, these projects reveal that colonial institutions, whether through fiscal weakening or resource displacement, create deep, path-dependent constraints on welfare.

The doctoral exchange at the LSE will provide Kunal Panda with a particularly stimulating international research environment at the crossroads of development economics, economic history and political economy. He will benefit from specialised seminars, high-level scientific interactions and privileged access to major academic resources.

Before beginning his PhD at Sciences Po, Kunal Panda pursued a solid background in economics at the University of Delhi, with in-depth training in theory, econometrics and quantitative methods, fuelled by a keen interest in inequality and institutional legacies.

The Sciences Po - LSE doctoral exchange programme supports the mobility of doctoral students in the social sciences, offering them not only academic support and access to the resources of the host institution, but also financial support of €2,500 to contribute to their living expenses.

We offer him our warmest congratulations on his selection and wish him a particularly fruitful stay at the LSE.

Find out more:

• Kunal Panda's website
• Interview with Kunal Panda
• About international exchange programmes for PhD students
• About PhD programmes at Sciences Po
• About the Department of Economics at Sciences Po