Nobel Prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, currently engaged with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have announced plans to relocate to Switzerland. The University of Zurich confirmed that from July next year, the couple will join its economics faculty and spearhead a new research centre focused on development economics.

The University of Zurich (UZH) stated in its announcement that both will hold endowed professorships funded by the Lemann Foundation.  In addition to their teaching roles, they will co-lead the newly formed Lemann Centre for Development, Education, and Public Policy, which aims to bridge rigorous academic research with policy impact and to foster collaboration among scholars and policymakers globally.

Duflo and Banerjee were co-awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics (along with Michael Kremer) for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”  According to the report, they will retain part-time positions at MIT while expanding their work through their base in Zurich.