Expert Group

Torbjörn Becker is Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) at the Stockholm School of Economics, a position he holds in parallel to board positions at several research institutes such as the Kyiv School of Economics and Swedish Institute of International Affairs. Prior to his role at SITE, Torbjörn worked with the IMF in Washington D.C., with his work focusing on emerging markets and developing countries in Eastern Europe and Russia. He completed his PhD in Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and continues to undertake research in subjects such as macroeconomics, debt management and fiscal policy.

Julia Schalk is Policy Director at WaterAid. Prior to this, she was Deputy Director at RFSU's International Department. Julia has extensive experience in health, gender equality, and development aid policy. She has been part of several Swedish governmental delegations to the UN, negotiating Swedish positions within the field of development and population. Julia has written several reports with a focus on sexual and reproductive rights. She previously worked at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and has held positions of trust as vice chair of Swedish Concord and as a board member of European SRHR network EuroNGOs.

Kim Forss is the founder and owner of his company which specializes in evaluation, research and teaching on the evaluation, methodology and implementation of the evaluation mission. He holds a PhD from the Stockholm School of Economics and has extensive international experience in evaluating development aid. He is a board member of the European Evaluation Society and among the first members of the Swedish Evaluation Society where he has served on the board for six years. Kim has experience in organizational analysis and has written several books on evaluation.

Torgny Holmgren is the Managing Director of Stockholm International Water Institute. He has extensive experience from the Government Office and international organizations. Most recently Torgny comes from a role as head of the Department for Development Policy at UD. He previously worked at the Ministry of Finance, at the Swedish Embassy in Kenya, the research unit at the World Bank - where he was editor of the book "Aid and Reform in Africa", as well as vice chairman of the OECD Development Assistance 2001.

Staffan I. Lindberg is a founding Principal Investigator and Director of Varieties of Democracy, Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, Wallenberg Academy Fellow, and awardee of an ERC Consolidator Grant. His research appears in over 100 academic publications, on issues such as elections and democratization, accountability, egalitarian democracy, clientelism, sequence analysis methods, women’s representation, voting behavior and the Ghanaian legislature. Lindberg also has extensive experience as consultant and as advisor to international organizations.

Malin Oud has over 20 years’ experience of working with democracy and human rights, with her work focusing primarily on China. She is currently Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law’s Stockholm Office, and having led the establishment of its Beijing office. In addition to the institute, she has worked for organisations such as the OHCHR and Sida, covering issues such as climate change and freedom of expression. She is fully proficient in Chinese and sits on the boards of the Mercator Institute for China Studies and China Labour Bulletin.

Anders Pedersen is International Director of the Swedish Red Cross, having joined the organisation after a long career spanning the UN, Sida and the Swedish diplomatic service. He was the UN Resident Coordinator, appointed by the Secretary General and leading the UN’s operational activities, in both Botswana and Jordan, working with both development and humanitarian aid. Anders has served as Chief of Staff in Sida’s Office of the Director General, alongside other leadership roles. As both a diplomat and international civil servant he has worked in a range of countries such as Zambia and Angola.

Andreas Wladis is a general surgeon with extensive experience from disaster, low-resource, and humanitarian contexts. He is a Professor in Disaster Medicine and Traumatology at Linköping University and holds a PhD from the Karolinska Institute. Andreas served with Médecins Sans Frontières as a surgeon in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010 and has done multiple missions for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to various conflict zones. He was Chief Surgeon for the ICRC from 2017 to 2019. Most recently he served as medical expert for the EU External Action Service in Brussels.