The ESA Conference is a premier event in experimental and behavioral economics. This year, Busara brings the conference to Kenya to convene top global and local researchers, and economists as well as research and academic teams and organizations from all across Africa and around the globe to exchange knowledge on cutting-edge research and innovations in the field. The Conference also offers a unique opportunity to foster interdisciplinary collaborations using experimental approaches.
Harsha Thirumurthy is a Professor of Health Policy and Chief of the Division of Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He co-directs the Behavioral Economics and Global Health Insights Lab. His research lies at the intersection of economics and public health, with a focus on applying insights from economics and psychology to identify interventions that improve health outcomes in low-income settings. He has led numerous randomized trials of behavioral interventions in partnership with researchers and organizations in Africa and South Asia. He has also led studies that explore the impacts of foreign aid programs and economic policies on population health and well-being. His work has been published in leading journals in economics, public health, and medicine. In 2020, he co-founded the Indlela nudge unit to build research capacity in behavioral economics and health in South Africa. Dr. Thirumurthy holds a PhD in economics from Yale University.
Laura Nelima Barasa holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Department of Economics and Development Studies where she teaches Econometrics and Statistics. Her research interests include innovation, agriculture, poverty, climate change, and gender. Laura has published in leading journals such as Research Policy. She is a certified European Investment Bank-Global Development Network fellow in Applied Development Finance. Laura’s affiliations include the African Economic Research Consortium, Partnership for Economic Policy, the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa, and Environment for Development.
Lata Gangadharan is a Professor of Economics, Joe Isaac Chair of Business and Economics and Maureen Brunt Professorial Fellow at Monash University. She is an experimental and behavioural economist. A key focus of her research has been on developing novel experimental methods to study economic and social institutions. Her recent research focuses on incentives and preferences and addresses the following topics: gender and social identity, mechanisms to address social and environmental dilemmas, propensity for prosocial and antisocial behaviour and incentives for compliance and auditing.
Her research has been published in several general interest and field journals, such as, Science, Nature Communications, PNAS, American Economic Review, Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Leadership Quarterly.
She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and is President-Elect of the Economic Science Association, which is the international society of experimental economists. She currently serves as a Co-Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and an Associate Editor at Management Science. She is a former Co-Editor of Experimental Economics and has previously also served on the editorial boards of several journals.
Registration fees – Early bird
Faculty, postdoc, professionals: $300
Students: $150
LMIC faculty, postdoc, professionals: $20
LMIC students: $0
Registration fees – Regular
Please use ESA Africa conference landing page on ESA website for submitting an abstract (Talk submission) and registering to attend.
Busara, the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), and the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) are delighted to announce a week of evidence-focused events taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from June 23rd to June 27th, 2025. This collaboration combines the 2025 Economic Science Association (ESA) Africa Conference and the 13th annual Africa Evidence Summit to advance global knowledge, build partnerships, and showcase innovations in inclusive research, evidence-informed policy, and practice.
Prior to ESA Africa conference, CEGA and NIERA will co-host the 13th annual Africa Evidence Summit on June 23-24, 2025, focusing on “Better Data for Decision-Making.” Please watch the CEGA event page for registration. Applications for the Call for Speakers and Call for Posters are open and are due on February 13th, 2025
