Simon holds a MA in International Relations and Development Policy from the University of Duisburg-Essen and BA degrees in Political Science and African Studies from Leipzig University. After having gained some working experience as project assistance with the Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21) in Duisburg and as short-term consultant working for the GIZ in cooperation with the African Union in Addis Ababa, Simon joined the IEE as research fellow in November 2021. His research interests concern the intersections of International Relations and Development Studies regarding the global and regional governance of poverty reduction. In his PhD research, Simon studies how the broader goal of fighting poverty is being politicized and contested within the regional contexts of the African Union and Mercosur employing an interpretivist research approach. Apart from his PhD research, Simon has been serving as coordinator of the European Joint Doctorate ADAPTED.

• International Relations
• Development Theories and Development Politics
• Regional Governance & Regionalism (especially Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America)
• Global & Regional Social Policy
• Constructivist International Norms Research

ORCID

• Winter Term 2024/ 2025 (24 October - 14 November): Social Science Perspectives on Development, Master Programme in Development Management, Ruhr-University Bochum, with Anne Siebert, PhD
• Summer Term 2023 (12 - 23 June): Social Science Perspectives on Development, Master Programme in Development Management, Ruhr-University Bochum, with Anne Siebert, PhD
• Summer Term 2022 (22 August - 2 September): Social Science Perspectives on Development, Master Programme in Development Management, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, with Prof. Dr. Christof Hartmann

Supervision of Master theses (MADM programmes at Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of the Western Cape, South Africa)

• Grigoryan, Arpi (2024). Community Consolidation Reforms and their Effect on Participation and Accountability - An Empirical Study of Decentralization in Armenia.
• Mngomezulu, Boitumelo (2023): Participation in Water Management in Cape Town - Perceptions of Deprived Urban Communities.
• Tique Calderon, Evelyn Yohana (2024): Multi Stakeholder Involvement in Participatory Development Projects - The Case of Coffee Producers in Ataco, Colombia.