SMU Associate Professor of Economics Tomoki Fujii seeks to understand the complexities behind poverty, nutrition and other hot-button issues in developing countries. For example, in a series of studies on poverty and child undernourishment in Cambodia, he used both demographic health surveys and census data to show that poverty tended to occur in clusters, while undernourishment was more spread out in the country. Such patterns were previously unknown. Associate Prof Fujii’s work will become increasingly crucial to understanding the complexities of socioeconomic outcomes that affect developing countries. He hopes that, through his research findings, governments and international aid organisations will be in a better position to initiate solutions for those who urgently need them.