BLOG

Published 22 August 2014

Faces – Young Scientist Profile: Dung Doan

Today on Faces – Dung Doan, a Vietnamese young economist tackling diet diversity and gender inequality.

In Faces we portray the young scientists of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and give them an open forum to talk about their research and everything else that is important to them. Everybody should feel encouraged to also share their own thoughts and stories. faces_doan_profileOn her research interests:

“My PhD research analyses how household income and education attainment influence diet diversity and obesity risk in China. The research is motivated by concerns related to unhealthy diets and increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in China, which could become more significant as the Chinese economy continues to grow. My analyses provide new insights into the role of income in enhancing diet diversity and apparently undermine existing evidence that overweight and obesity are an epidemic of affluent and better educated Chinese.”

 

On the challenges of an economist’s life:

“The largest obstacle that I have to overcome is gender discrimination against women who pursue higher education and a dynamic career. When I decided to undertake my PhD, almost everyone discouraged me because it is very hard for a single woman with a PhD degree in Vietnam to find a husband. But I do not compromise with the bias that a woman’s worth depends on whether she has a husband and how successful her husband is. I enjoy doing research and I want to follow a career in international development.”

 

What makes a good economist? (Watch the video)

“I believe being objective is essential for a good economist. Economic issues often arise from the interaction of and are influenced by different factors. What we need is an unbiased attitude to analyse the issue of interest from different perspectives and be open to unconventional findings.”

 

On her road to Lindau:

“I got to know about the Lindau Meeting from my PhD supervisor, Prof. Bruce Chapman. He has been strongly supportive of my application for the Meeting. But when I received the invitation from the Lindau Council, Prof. Chapman made me promise that I would finish my thesis before going to the Meeting. That was a great motivation for me: I submitted my thesis five days before the Meeting starts.”

 

On her expectations on the Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences:

“I am keen to have a conversation with Prof. Joseph Stiglitz about the different roles of the government and the market in promoting inclusive economic growth.  I am also eager to meet and exchange ideas with young economists from different countries.”

More info on Joseph Stiglitz is available at the Lindau Mediatheque.

 

To join the debates and reach out to other participants use the Twitter Hashtag: #LindauEcon14.