PROF Carlos Oya

Biography	Carlos Oya has degrees in Economics from Universidad Complutense of Madrid and SOAS (MSc Econ) where he also did his PhD in Development Economics. He has three main research areas: political economy of development and economic transformation; agrarian change and development; labour relations, global production, and labour markets. He also has a strong interest and expertise in research methodology and survey design. He worked for several years in government in Mozambique (Ministry of Planning and Finance), contributing to national poverty eradication strategies and economic development planning. Carlos has done extensive field-based research on agrarian change, and contemporary labour market dynamics in many African countries, especially in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola and Senegal. His earlier work centred on processes of agrarian change, agricultural policy and agrarian capitalist transformations in Africa. He then engaged in research on labour dynamics in agriculture, and the impact of sustainability standards systems (e.g. Fairtrade) on working conditions, followed by pioneering evidence synthesis in the form of systematic reviews of the socio-economic effects of agricultural certification schemes worldwide. He led a project on structural transformations and employment outcomes in infrastructure construction and manufacturing sectors in Ethiopia and Angola, with a special focus on Chinese firms and comparative employment outcomes ( www.idcea.org ). From this project a monograph titled "China and Africa's Industrialization" is forthcoming as Cambridge University Press Element in 2025. His work has been published in leading journals in development, agrarian and African studies, such as World Development, Journal of Agrarian Change, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Review of African Political Economy, African Affairs, and Journal of Southern African Studies. He also co-edited volumes like "Rural Wage Employment in Developing Countries" (2015) "Global Land Grabs: History, Theory and Methods" (2015) and the "Oxford Handbook of the Mauritian Economy" (2025). He has held visiting teaching positions in various universities worldwide, such as China Agricultural University, Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland), and Universidad Complutense in Madrid (Spain).
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes

Biography

Carlos Oya has degrees in Economics from Universidad Complutense of Madrid and SOAS (MSc Econ) where he also did his PhD in Development Economics. He has three main research areas: political economy of development and economic transformation; agrarian change and development; labour relations, global production, and labour markets. He also has a strong interest and expertise in research methodology and survey design. He worked for several years in government in Mozambique (Ministry of Planning and Finance), contributing to national poverty eradication strategies and economic development planning.

Carlos has done extensive field-based research on agrarian change, and contemporary labour market dynamics in many African countries, especially in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola and Senegal. His earlier work centred on processes of agrarian change, agricultural policy and agrarian capitalist transformations in Africa. He then engaged in research on labour dynamics in agriculture, and the impact of sustainability standards systems (e.g. Fairtrade) on working conditions, followed by pioneering evidence synthesis in the form of systematic reviews of the socio-economic effects of agricultural certification schemes worldwide.

He led a project on structural transformations and employment outcomes in infrastructure construction and manufacturing sectors in Ethiopia and Angola, with a special focus on Chinese firms and comparative employment outcomes ( www.idcea.org ). From this project a monograph titled "China and Africa's Industrialization" is forthcoming as Cambridge University Press Element in 2025. His work has been published in leading journals in development, agrarian and African studies, such as World Development, Journal of Agrarian Change, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Review of African Political Economy, African Affairs, and Journal of Southern African Studies. He also co-edited volumes like "Rural Wage Employment in Developing Countries" (2015) "Global Land Grabs: History, Theory and Methods" (2015) and the "Oxford Handbook of the Mauritian Economy" (2025).

He has held visiting teaching positions in various universities worldwide, such as China Agricultural University, Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland), and Universidad Complutense in Madrid (Spain).

PhD Supervision Availability

Yes