Chris Woodruff

Appointed in August 2021.

Chris is Professor of Development Economics, University of Oxford. He is the Scientific Coordinator for the FCDO–Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) joint research venture on Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) and a member of the Steering Committee of the International Growth Centre. In addition to his position at Oxford, he is a Research Fellow at the CEPR, and a Senior Fellow of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

Chris’s research is widely published in leading academic journals and focuses on enterprises in low-income countries, with noted work on returns to capital investments in microenterprises and the effect of formal registration on enterprise performance. He is a pioneer in the use of field experiments in firms.

Chris was appointed as Safeguarding Champion in February 2026.