Senior Researcher

Koen Voorend is a Dutch researcher based in Costa Rica. He is an Anker Research Institute researcher and has been involved with the Anker methodology since 2015, having done benchmark studies in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Belize, Dominican Republic, and Nigeria, as well as update studies and other research, e.g. on migration. He is also a full professor at the University of Costa Rica, in a research position at the Institute of Social Research, where he is director until mid-2025. He holds an MA. and a Ph.D. in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and another MA. in International Economics Studies from the Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Recent publications include the Living Wage Benchmark studies for the above-mentioned countries published on this website, and "Barriers to Healthcare Access for Immigrants in Costa Rica and Uruguay" (Journal of International Migration and Integration, with Daniel Alvarado, 2022), “Same job, different wage for migrants? Nicaraguan migrants and living wage in Costa Rica” (Anker Research Network Working Paper Series, with Richard and Martha Anker, 2021), and “Migrants and Access to Healthcare” (World Development, with Arjun Bedi and Rebeca Sura, 2021)