Dr. Roland Pongou is an affiliate faculty of the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IERPE) since September 2013. He is involved in a number of activities within the African School of Economics. He holds a Master and a PhD in Economics, both from Brown University. He also holds degrees in Mathematics and Demography. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa, the head of Research and Evaluation at the Global Economic Institute for Africa, and a Researcher at Development Research Strategies. His research focuses on the analysis of how formal and informal institutions determine demographic and economic outcomes. Some of the topics covered by his research include the formation of “infidelity networks” and their implications for HIV/AIDS spread, human capital accumulation, the impacts of the slave trade and missionary activity in Africa, and the effect of social media on political cycles and instability. As an affiliate faculty of IERPE, he has worked on the long-term impacts of colonial railways in Nigeria. He is also using household data on maternal and child health and aggreagate data on institutions and longevity to investigate the historical and institutional roots of demographic transition in African countries.