Beatrice Montano is a Ph.D. candidate in political science, specializing in comparative politics. Ms. Montano focuses on the behavioral political economy of social norms, with a current emphasis on gender-based violence in East Africa. Ms. Montano’s work combines formal theory and experimental research with fieldwork-based insights in the context of global development.
Ms. Montano’s research has received support from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP), Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), and the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, among others. In 2023, Ms. Montano was a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Gender Fellow Runner-Up, and in 2022, Ms. Montano was awarded the William T.R. Fox Fellowship in Political Science.
Ms. Montano earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in economics from Bocconi University, where she maintains her affiliation with the Laboratory for Effective Anti-Poverty Policies (LEAP). Before joining Columbia, Ms. Montano worked as a field research assistant at the Research and Evaluation Unit for BRAC Uganda, and as the research manager at the Altruistic Capital Lab in the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics. During this time, Ms. Montano conducted fieldwork in various locations, including Syrian refugee camps in Greece, both urban and rural areas in Uganda and the top banking institutions in London. Ms. Montano has continued this work on the Swahili coast in Tanzania since the beginning of her Ph.D.
