The researcher
About
I am a Kenyan public policy researcher working at the intersection of policy, agriculture, food systems and digital rights in Africa.
Biography
I examine agricultural policy implementation, agri-food resilience, food security, nutrition policy, agricultural trade, sustainability and digital rights. My research is united by a single question: why do well-intended policies so often fail to reach the households they are designed to protect, and what institutional conditions allow some systems to do better than others? I approach that question empirically, combining household- and enterprise-level evidence with policy analysis across Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia and cross-national samples. The work asks not only what governments decide, but how political commitment, coordination and implementation capacity shape what actually happens on the ground.
I am a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at the University of Nairobi, holding a doctoral scholarship awarded by PASGR (the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alongside the doctorate, I teach as a part-time lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Eldoret, and I bring eight years of experience in research and policy analysis, currently as a researcher and public policy analyst with ResearchCannon. Earlier consulting years with Focus Business & Research Associates produced more than one hundred completed research projects for government, NGO and private-sector clients.
A newer strand of my agenda extends the same questions to digital life. As lead researcher for the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), I directed a national study of how journalism and law schools integrate technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) into their curricula, published as KICTANet Report No. 34, and I have presented conference work on countering political disinformation through AI-based learning platforms and youth social-media literacy.
My work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the British Food Journal, the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Health Science Reports, the African Journal of Economic Review, the International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management and Developing Country Studies. Each publication entry on this site links directly to its DOI or publisher record. Research on food insecurity in Liberia has also been drawn on in public commentary published by The Conversation and covered by specialist agricultural media.
Short biography for conference organisers and media (third person)
Michael Kipkorir Kemboi is a Kenyan public policy researcher and doctoral candidate in Public Policy at the University of Nairobi, where his studies are supported by a PASGR and Carnegie Corporation of New York scholarship. He is a part-time lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Eldoret and a researcher and public policy analyst with ResearchCannon. His research examines how public policy, institutions and markets shape resilience, food security, sustainability and social outcomes in African agri-food systems, with an emerging strand on digital policy and online safety. He was lead researcher for KICTANet’s national study of technology-facilitated gender-based violence in journalism and law school curricula (Report No. 34, 2025). His work has been published in the British Food Journal, the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Health Science Reports and the African Journal of Economic Review, among others. ORCID: 0000-0002-9862-0819.
Current roles
- Doctoral candidate
- Public Policy, University of Nairobi (2022 to date), supported by a PASGR & Carnegie Corporation of New York doctoral scholarship.
- Part-time lecturer
- School of Economics, University of Eldoret (since June 2021).
- Researcher and public policy analyst
- ResearchCannon (since October 2018).
Education
- PhD candidate, Public Policy
- University of Nairobi, 2022 to date.
- Master of Research and Public Policy
- University of Nairobi. Research project (2019): The Contribution of Trade Liberalization to Agricultural Growth in Kenya.
- BA Business Studies with IT
- Maseno University, 2012–2016.
Teaching and academic service
- Teaching
- Introductory and intermediate macroeconomics and economic statistics, School of Economics, University of Eldoret.
- Peer review
- Reviewer for Cogent Economics & Finance (since November 2022).
- Membership
- Member, International Public Policy Association.
- Fieldwork
- Contributed to national learner-assessment fieldwork with the Kenya National Examinations Council.
Awards and scholarships
- Doctoral scholarship
- PASGR (Partnership for African Social and Governance Research) & Carnegie Corporation of New York, supporting doctoral studies at the University of Nairobi.
Field note: why this site does not display citation counts
Citation, readership and download metrics change continuously, and any number published here would be out of date almost immediately. Instead, this site links to the live records on ORCID, ResearchGate and Google Scholar, so that readers always see current metrics at the source.
At a glance
- Fields
- Public policy · agricultural policy · agri-food systems
- Focus themes
- Food security, resilience, nutrition policy, agricultural trade, sustainability, digital policy
- Affiliation
- University of Eldoret (lecturing) · University of Nairobi (doctoral studies) · ResearchCannon
- Geographic focus
- Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia and cross-national comparisons
- Languages
- English and Swahili
- ORCID
- 0000-0002-9862-0819
- Profiles
- ORCID · ResearchGate · Google Scholar
- Curriculum vitae
- Download the CV (PDF, 2026)
How the agenda grew
From a single question about trade and growth in Kenya to a comparative research programme on policy, resilience and food systems, across three countries, a global sample, and now the digital sphere. Each stage links to the work itself.
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2019–2020
Trade and agricultural growth
The starting point: a master’s research project at the University of Nairobi estimating the short- and long-run contribution of trade liberalization to agricultural growth in Kenya, carried into journal articles on trade liberalization and Kenya–China trade relations.
University of Nairobi repository · IJFIRM, 2020 · Developing Country Studies, 2020
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2021–2024
Food insecurity and livelihoods
A field-level turn to the households policy often misses: the economic viability of local chicken production in West Pokot County, and how female-headed agricultural households in Liberia experience food insecurity and which coping strategies protect livelihoods.
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2022–2025
Digital policy and online life
The same institutional questions move online: conference work on countering political disinformation (Toronto 2023; Nairobi 2022), a gendered analysis of digital financial inclusion and financial health in Kenya (2023), and the commissioned KICTANet study of TFGBV integration in journalism and law school curricula (2025).
African Journal of Economic Review, 2023 · KICTANet Report No. 34 (PDF)
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2022–2026
Food systems and resilience
Resilience becomes the organising question: organizational resilience and the sustainability of community-based social enterprises through Covid-19 (2022); who is getting resilience policy right in Kenyan agriculture (2026); diet quality in Tanzanian fishing households (2026); and national school-meal policies worldwide (2026).
JEMPS, 2022 · JADEE, 2026 · Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 2026 · Health Science Reports, 2026
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2022–present
Doctoral research and sustainability
Doctoral research in Public Policy at the University of Nairobi, supported by a PASGR & Carnegie Corporation of New York scholarship, pushes toward sustainability at scale: how agri-food systems can remain productive, inclusive and resilient for the long run, including the disruption-breadth working paper explored in the Evidence Lab.