A warm welcome to this collaborative space for Wellbeing Economy Master and PhD students .
At the WEAll Global team, we often get approached by students who are keen to focus their Master’s or PhD thesis on the wellbeing economy. This space is for you to connect with other students who share a similar interest in the wellbeing economy.
We hope it can offer a platform to share ideas about research questions, relevant literature, practical case studies, and much more . Make yourself at home by introducing yourself, your research topic of interest and any questions you might have.
My name is Jack Dobbins, I am a Master by Research student at University of Glasgow, School of Social and Political Science, completing my dissertation in Public Policy Research.
I am still relatively new to WeAll, and to wellbeing economics as a discipline, and I am excited to see where this goes.
My educational background is in Cultural Anthropology, I earned my Bachelor’s degree from Tulane University, in New Orleans, with a focus on colonial Latin America and the Caribbean.
I am a bit older than many Master’s students, I had a 12-year career in the US military, both enlisted and as an officer, before working as an IT program and Project manager for the U.S. government. This gave me a solid foundation in systems science, planning, implementation, and the practical requirements of working within legal/regulatory frameworks
After I complete my dissertation, I intend to pursue a PhD. I am very interested in modern monetary theory, economic transition modeling (standard value frameworks for resource distribution in non-extractive local economies/markets), city-level sustainable infrastructure (green energy, water treatment, housing, food distribution, etc…) and would love to collaborate with like-minded students.
I love to learn about new things, and I would be happy to hear about all of your crazy ideas.
I’m Johannes, a master’s student at Lund University, studying economic history and development economics. Economic history can mean the history of the economy, but personally I view it more as economics approached context-specific, in a longer view, and more as a social science. Less modeling and prediction, more exploration and explanation. Which I find makes the discipline well suited for breaking with habits and orthodoxy when it comes to the economic system.
Currently, I’m gearing up to write my thesis, and hoping this forum can be a good place to spar and exchange ideas with likeminded students, so our work can contribute to transitioning towards a more just and equitable economy and society.
Thank you for creating a space to share and connect, Margreet.
My name is Vix. I’m about to start an MA in the Anthropology of Global Futures and Sustainability at SOAS University of London.
Like @MPJackD, this isn’t my first rodeo. I was an intelligence officer in the Royal Air Force for 10 years, where I got an MA in War Studies researching the role of women in the counterinsurgency operation in Afghanistan. I’ve spent the last 10 years working first in international development and then moving into eco-somatic coaching and relational facilitation (with a few other bits and pieces along the way). My BA is in international politics and development economics from the University of Manchester some 20 years ago now; we definitely weren’t discussing wellbeing or doughnut economics back then!
I haven’t settled on a research question. I’m new to wellbeing economics, but I recently listened to Michael Mezze’s interview with Jason Hickel, and it reignited a lot of ideas for me around anthropologies of security, safety and care. Seeing the tension in the UK at the moment between increasing defence spending on one hand, while at the same time there is widespread food, job and housing insecurity, not to mention the looming threat of the climate and ecological crisis, has me feel frustrated, confused and also curious about what disciplines like wellbeing economics might have as alternative futures.
Looking forward to connecting with other students here from some cross-fertilisation and moral support.
Great to see you here, Johannes, and a warm welcome to you too, Vix! @Vix if you’re new to the wellbeing economy, I’d highly recommend also checking out the free online Wellbeing Economy Policy Design course, which we launched last year together with the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and ZOE Institute for Future-fit economies. The course has been designed for policymakers, but modules 1-7 are widely applicable also for anyone who is interested to learn more about the wellbeing economy. Also, in relation to security and the increase in defence spending, this is an interesting - though sad - piece by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) on the economics of genocide. Michael Mezze’s video with Jason Hickel, which is part of the Better Future series, is also a great one. I’m copying the link in here in case others are interested in watching this too. We work quite closely with both Michael and Jason - they are such amazing speakers!
Hi Everybody, thanks Margreet having created this space of sharing knowledge.
briefly introducing my self , i did a bachelor and master degree in Environmental and development economics, with a master thesis focused on the human development economics approach.
After four years of working in the corporate world, I’ve decided to return to academia. Starting this November, I will begin a PhD in Regional Science and Geographic Economics at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in Italy.
My research will focus on strategies to specialize regional areas in ways that go beyond traditional sustainable development frameworks. I aim to explore new metrics for measuring well-being, integrating them into regional planning and policy-making. It’s a challenging and emerging field, but I hope to contribute—brick by brick—to building a new paradigm for society.
looking forward to share ideas and connect with all of you.
I will check out the course once I have my head around my new rhythm with my studies. It’s been a while since I was academia and my brain feels a bit rusty!
The article you shared really speaks to the links between capitalism and militarism/imperialism; they really do go hand-in-hand. Building a safe and just world for all the human and more-than-human inhabitants will require divesting from both.
Hi all, I’m Lily from Taiwan, currently pursuing a Master’s in Governance of Sustainability Transformations at Wageningen University.
I’m still in the early stage of my thesis, but I’m interested in exploring how industrial transitions can be understood through a post-growth lens, especially in energy-intensive sectors like AI and semiconductors. Since there are very few real-world post-growth cases, I’m considering focusing on Taiwan as a case study, or conducting a comparative analysis with the Netherlands.
Both Taiwan and the Netherlands are relatively resource-constrained and highly dependent on energy imports, yet they have developed energy- and resource-intensive industries. This makes them interesting cases for exploring sustainability transitions beyond growth.
Looking forward to connecting and exchanging thoughts with other students working on related themes!
Great to see you here, Lily! And that sounds like such an interesting research proposal. Do keep us posted on how it goes! And feel free to use this Wellbeing Economies Research channel to brainstorm any ideas or get support from other students working on these topics.
Thanks Margreet for creating this space! Very interesting to read about everyone’s interests and work.
My name is Annegeke Jansen and I’m doing a PhD on Beyond GDP at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University. I have a background in economics and philosophy and some experience in policymaking
I presented the global chapter of the historical report at the World Economic Historians Congress in Lund. @Johs any chance you were at the conference as well?
The upcoming period I will focus more on environmental footprints, specifically in relation to capital and the decoupling debate.
@Lily the energy import dependence of the Netherlands is a recent phenomenon. A lot of industries could develop thanks to our domestic gas supplies. Our geographic location with the port in Rotterdam probably also helped. I know a bit about the gas industry because of my previous job so let me know if you have any specific questions. Could luck with your research!
Kia ora everyone, it has been a pleasure reading all your introductions, it is so cool seeing the wide range of research you are all undertaking in various parts of the world. Thanks Margreet for setting this up!
A little intro for myself, I recently completed my Master of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand, Aotearoa). During my time I have also been a tutor for Macro and public economics papers. My research project was on the True Value of National Parks in New Zealand, in which I drew heavily on Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach and the various adaptions of it (including a great paper on it’s application to valuing nature with an Indigenous Māori lens), in my eyes we have really failed to appropriately value nature and that has really driven the extractive processes we see globally today. If anyone wants any paper recommendation or advice in this realm feel free to reach out. I also have a paper I need to finish eventually that is a review of Sir Dieter Helm’s book Legacy: How to Build a Sustainable Economy, in this I analyse the feasibility of his proposals and the need for distributional justice on an intra- and inter- national level as well as a inter-generational level.
I have also been working with the Aotearoa branch of WEAll over the past year which has been really rewarding, I have assisted with some of the great projects they have completed over the last year, happy to share or discuss with anyone interested. Just last night I attended an event at our parliament building “The Beehive” where MPs across the political spectrum attended to hear the launch of our Wellbeing of Future Generations Act: “Tomorrow Together”. Really big moment for our country as we have a severe lack of long term thinking in our government as well as a complete lack of cross-party collaboration.
I also started the Students for a Wellbeing Economy Club at our University, it has quickly grown to over 100 members, and we have put on a number of events connecting students with ideas surrounding wellbeing economics. Surprisingly most of our members come from outside the commerce and economics programmes which really speaks to the growing desire for better economic systems for everyone. If anyone wants to start a similar club in their university I would be happy to provide my insights .
Most of my studies have been really NZ-focused, but we have some really great content coming out here surrounding wellbeing economics, so happy to share with anyone who is interested!
Welcome Jamie! It’s so inspiring to hear about the Students for a Wellbeing Economy Club you have set up. What a great success ! And thanks so much for your kind offer to share your learnings on establishing a student network like this with others.
Hey everyone! I’m Shawn. Upfront transparency, I have no degree. In fact I have very little formal higher education at all. About a dozen classes without being able to buy books around a decade ago. All that being said, I’ve been working towards the goal of figuring out how to create global decentralized communal autonomy and at this point I think I have something unique and potentially quite good for this entire movement as a whole.
I’m definitely not any kind of expert in anything like this. In fact I had to use an llm to help make up for my deficiencies. Especially the writing process, all of which is logged (this message has taken me almost 2 hours at this point😅). However, I believe in my project so I would be remiss to pass up this opportunity to ask people who are actually way better educated in all this to at least look it over.
I won’t lie here, this could very well be a waste of your time, so if you’re not interested I completely understand. I also realize that this thread specifically calls for Masters and PhD students so fully accept that I have committed a taboo by posting here and will understand and accept any consequences.
I do not come seeking help with absolutely nothing to offer the group. Though, I don’t know if what I have to offer is of any value. All I’ve really got to offer is a knack for understanding research and asking questions from a unique perspective that comes from a lifetime of unstructured study on whatever catches my fancy. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than it sounds.
I would love if you decided to look it over and think it’s worth further development but if I’ve been wasting my time and it’s not only not unique but uninteresting or especially if it’s filled with bad information, I would prefer knowing to not. With all this in mind, will you please consider allowing me to post at least the description and link for my project here for review and discussion? It’s called the Decentralized Communal Autonomy Framework.
I must apologize . I got excited and got ahead of myself. I figured out where I should have posted and withdraw my request. I will do what I can to make amends and you are invited to request something. (Cause I’m not sure what to offer )
A warm welcome Shawn @DCAFramework ! Your framework sounds very interesting ! Please do post the description and link for your project here . Warm regards, Margreet
Thank you I’m gonna try to relax a bit. It’s quite the shift to go from, at best being dismissed, and at worst being threatened as a “commie", when I try to talk about this irl to realizing that there are actually whole communities like this over the course of just a few days .
A bit late to this thread as I have finished my thesis, but just introducing myself to connect with you all!
I am Vasilios, from Greece, and a (finished now) MSc student in Behavioural Economics in the University of Glasgow. My undergrad was in Economics and Philosophy, where I did my dissertation in the philosophical underpinnings of environmental economics, and my MSc dissertation was on alternative economic growth metrics, where I did a comparison between GDP and HDI in predicting subjective wellbeing across income groups.
I am interested in philosophy, economics, the environment, and wellbeing
Good to have found this community, and hope everyone is having a good holiday period
.
. Make yourself at home by introducing yourself, your research topic of interest and any questions you might have.
!
.
In fact I have very little formal higher education at all. About a dozen classes without being able to buy books around a decade ago. All that being said, I’ve been working towards the goal of figuring out how to create global decentralized communal autonomy and at this point I think I have something unique and potentially quite good for this entire movement as a whole.
! Your framework sounds very interesting ! Please do post the description and link for your project here 
. Warm regards, Margreet
I’m gonna try to relax a bit. It’s quite the shift to go from, at best being dismissed, and at worst being threatened as a “commie", when I try to talk about this irl to realizing that there are actually whole communities like this over the course of just a few days 