ADAPTED fellow Muhammad Saleh has successfully defended his PhD thesis titled "Essays on Foreign Development Finance, Growth and Job Creation in the Developing World" on October 23, 2025. Muhammad has been awarded the degree of a Philosophiae Doctor (Ph.D.).

The PhD thesis was part of the ADAPTED work package "validating pathways towards poverty eradication" and marks the first officially completed individual PhD project within the EU-funded research consortium coordinated by the IEE. Muhammad's thesis was jointly supervised by Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein (RUB) and Prof. Lisa Chauvet (Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne). The oral exam was chaired by Prof. Matthias Busse (RUB) and the examination committee further consisted of Prof. Mansoob Murshed (UWTSD Birmingham), Prof. Silvia Marchesi (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca) and Prof. Andreas Fuchs (Georg-August-University Goettingen).