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Decoding Conflict

Benjamin Y. Koch

Doctoral Researcher
Ruhr University Bochum
Ruhr Graduate School in Economics

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Interests

Research Interests
Analyzing the geo-economic impact of Russia's Wagner Group on sub-Saharan Africa using panel and remote-sensing data
Development
  1. Humanitarian economics
  2. Conflicts & risks
  3. Foreign affairs, diplomacy, & geopolitics
  4. UN, OSCE, NATO, & EU
  5. SSA, LAC, CHL, USA, DEU, NRW, & the Ruhrgebiet
Endogenous but Interesting

About Me

Benjamin Y. Koch portrait picture

Experience

2024–Present

RUB

Bochum, DEU
Research Associate

Graduate Assistant
Ruhr University Bochum
Faculty of Management and Economics
Chair of International Economics
(Prof. Dr. Matthias Busse)
wiwi.rub.de

Research focus: Humanitarian Economics

Education

2024–Present

Economic Sciences

Bochum, DEU
Ruhr University Bochum
Faculty of Management and Economics
Doctor of Economic Sciences (Dr. rer. oec.)
wiwi.rub.de

Dissertation topic: Conflicts in the Global South
Dissertation advisor: Prof. Dr. Matthias Busse

Qualifications

Professional Development

Max Planck Summer School: Political Economy of Conflict and Redistribution. 2025. CEPR, Economic Science Institute, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance. Berlin, DEU. Scientific organizers: Kai A. Konrad, Dan Kovenock, Dominic Rohner. tax.mpg.de
TRR 391 Summer School: Generalized Additive Modelling and Statistical Methods for High-Dimensional Spatio-Temporal Data. 2025. TRR 391 – Transregional Collaborative Research Center on Spatio-temporal Statistics for the Transition of Energy and Transport. Dortmund, DEU. Lecturers: Matteo Fasiolo & Sayar Karmaka. trr391.tu-dortmund.de
EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Certificate. 2024. EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (FRS, IISS, SIPRI, PRIF). Paris, FRA (remote). nonproliferation.eu
BSE Summer School: Panel Data and Spatial Panels. 2025. Barcelona School of Economics. Barcelona, ESP. Lecturer: Badi H. Baltagi. bse.eu
BSE Summer School: Geospatial Tools for Development: Data and Inference. 2025. Barcelona School of Economics. Barcelona, ESP (remote). Lecturer: André Gröger. bse.eu

Skills

Data Analysis
  1. R
  2. Stata
  3. Julia
  4. MATLAB
  5. SQL
  6. Alteryx
  7. Power BI

Volunteering

2023–Present
UNICEF Dortmund Student Group
Volunteer
2010–2024
Brambauer Lutheran Church
IT, volunteer
2015
Lebenshilfe Dortmund
Summer camp volunteer for persons with disabilities

Activities

  1. Guitar
  2. Lacrosse
  3. Traveling
Club Goods and Good Clubs

Memberships

DAG
Deutsche Atlantische Gesellschaft
(German Atlantic Association)
ata-dag.de
DGVN
Deutsche Gesellschaft für die Vereinten Nationen
(United Nations Association of Germany)
dgvn.de
Regression to the Mean(ingful)

Research

Publications

Manuscripts in Preparation

Article in preparation. Andor, M. A., Hoenow, N. C., & Koch, B. Y. European citizens’ perceptions of the energy transition and policies: Evidence based on a large-scale survey from 2021. Manuscript in preparation.

Entries in Reference Works

Dictionary of ecological economics, 2023. Andor, M. A., Koch, B. Y., & Matejko, L. (2023). Energy conservation. In B. M. Haddad & B. D. Solomon (Eds.), Dictionary of ecological economics: Terms for the new millennium (p. 185). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788974912.E.92
Dictionary of ecological economics, 2023. Andor, M. A., Koch, B. Y., & Matejko, L. (2023). Natural disaster. In B. M. Haddad & B. D. Solomon (Eds.), Dictionary of ecological economics: Terms for the new millennium (p. 367). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788974912.N.9

Reports and Gray Literature

NEWCOMERS Deliverable 6.3, 2022. Andor, M. A., Blasch, J., Cordes, O., Hoenow, N. C., Karki, K., Koch, B. Y., Micke, K., Niehues, D., & Tomberg, L. (2022). Report on cross-country citizen survey (Deliverable 6.3, Version 2.0). The NEWCOMERS consortium.

Teaching

Ruhr University Bochum

Case Studies in International Economics. Seminar, bachelor's level, in English. Summer 2025.
Foundations of International Trade. Exercise sessions, bachelor's level, in English. Winter 2025/2026.
Scientific Methods. Exercise sessions, bachelor's level, in English. Winter 2024/2025.
Supervision of bachelor's theses. In English and German. Winter 2024/2025.

Presentations

Economics

2023. Perceptions of the energy transition and policies. Workshop. RWI Essen.

International

2021. Chile: A changing country. Lecture series by the Expert Committee on European Affairs. Federal Association of German Economists (bdvb).
Statistically Significant

Honors

2024
TU Dortmund University
Department of Business and Economics
TMC Best Master's Thesis Award 2024 (€1,000)
2022
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
(German Academic Exchange Service)
Internship scholarship
2019
Bundesverband Deutscher Volks- und Betriebswirte
(Federal Association of German Economists)
Aktivit fellowship
2016
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
(German Academic Scholarship Foundation)
Study scholarship