Sonia

Sonia Rocha holds a doctor’s degree in Economics from Université Paris I (Panthéon/Sorbonne). She worked as a senior researcher at the Brazilian Statistics Institute, the Institute for Applied Economics and the Getulio Vargas Foundation, while also being a researcher at the Brazilian Scientific Research Council for more than twenty years. She developed the empirical tools for the systematic measurement and follow-up of poverty in Brazil. She has done research and consulting on poverty and social policy evaluation for a wide range of Brazilian institutions, as well as for international and foreign agencies, such as the World Bank. She has held visiting posts at several universities and research centers abroad (University of Paris 13, FR; Latin American Centre, Oxford University, UK; University of Amiens, FR; Institute for Development Economies, JP). She was Tinker Professor at Stanford University (US), as well as holder of the Brazilian Studies Chair (2010-14) at Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (FR). She has published widely on Brazilian poverty and correlated themes. Her most recent work has concentrated on design and evaluation of means-tested cash-transfer programs. 

She is married and lives in Rio de Janeiro.