Maria Nagawa is a joint Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University specializing in the political economy of development. She studies the dynamics of governance and development including the role of bureaucrats, international actors, and traditional institutions. The main strand of her research explores the effects of aid on the incentives of bureaucrats in aid-recipient countries. Her other research interests include the role of traditional leaders in political participation and in public service provision in the African context and NGO responses to state repression. Nagawa blends quantitative and qualitative methods in her work, including survey experiments that draw from in-depth interviews. She has held various research positions with the Embassy of France in Uganda, the Trade Facilitation Office in the Canada Department of Global Affairs, the BRICS Policy Center in Brazil, the Economic Policy Research Centre in Uganda, and the University of Colorado Denver in the United States. Maria has also taught Ugandan Economy, Regional Integration, and International Business Economics at Makerere University Business School in Uganda. While at Princeton, Maria will continue to study institutional efficacy in the Global South including the role of bureaucrats in development.