IBRAHIM KASSOUM Habibou

IBRAHIM KASSOUM Habibou

Ph.D. candidate in Development Economics & Data Scientist

University Clermont Auvergne - CERDI - CNRS - IRD - France

Hellođź‘‹

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Development Economics at the University Clermont Auvergne and a Data Scientist from the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Analyse de l’Information (ENSAI-Rennes). I am particularly interested in nutrition and health issues in developing countries, with a special focus on using machine learning techniques to address these challenges. My favorite letter in the alphabet is and my favorite animal is (I actually only swear by these two tools!). I strongly believe in the power of open science which is why I have made the replication codes for some of my projects available on my Github account. In my free time, I enjoy playing football, running and learning new skills online.

Download my CV

Interests
  • Development Economics
  • Nutrition and Health
  • Applied Microeconomics
  • Data Science and Machine Learning
Education
  • Ph.D. in Economics, 2026 (expected)

    University Clermont Auvergne

  • M.Eng. in Data science, 2022

    École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information (ENSAI-Rennes)

  • M.Sc. in Theoretical and Empirical Economics, 2022

    Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE)

  • B.Eng. in Statistics and Applied Economics, 2020

    École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Économique (ENSAE-Dakar)

Skills

Programming
Python
R
SQL
Stata
C
Professional
Data science
Teamwork
Communication
Time management
Adaptability

Work experience

 
 
 
 
 
UMR Aix‑Marseille School of Economics (AMSE)
Research Assistant - Data Analyst (fixed-term contract)
September 2022 – August 2023 Marseille (France)
  • Managed DHS datasets from several Sub-Saharan African countries;
  • Performed statistical analyses;
  • Prepared detailed research reports, presented findings and coached several interns.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Institute for Development (IRD)
Research Assistant - Data Analyst (internship)
April 2022 – August 2022 Marseille (France)
  • Assisted in collecting, wrangling and organizing data from WHO for several Sub-Saharan African countries;
  • Achieved statistical analyses to assist senior researchers in drawing meaningful research findings;
  • Developed machine learning algorithm to assess the efficiency of health aid.
 
 
 
 
 
French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport Development and Networks (IFSTTAR)
Research Assistant - Data Analyst (internship)
June 2021 – September 2021 Lyon-Bron (France)
  • Collected data and analyzed the evolution of the French car market over the last years;
  • Applied time series analysis techniques to forecast the French car market in the upcoming years;
  • Formulated actionable policy recommendations based on data-driven insights to guide future strategies and decisions in the French car market.
 
 
 
 
 
Senegalese Observatory of Poverty and Living Conditions (OPCV)
Research Scientist (internship)
March 2020 – September 2020 Dakar (Senegal)
  • Developed a data collection application for a survey data and data management;
  • Applied the KE XU methodology as outlined by the WHO to analyze household health expenditures and identified households vulnerable to catastrophic health expenditures;
  • Conducted an examination of the intricate interplay between poverty and health expenditures.
 
 
 
 
 
Nigerien National Institute of Statistics (INS) & National Information Platforms for Nutrition (NIPN)
Research Scientist (internship)
July 2018 – September 2018 Niamey (Niger)
  • Managed and performed data quality analysis on survey data from Niger;
  • Estimated malnutrition rates using survey data from Niger;
  • Interacted closely with the NIPN team to use statistical software and interpret results.

Teaching experience

 
 
 
 
 
University Clermont Auvergne: School of Economics
Teaching Assistant (fixed-term contract)
October 2023 – Present Clermont-Ferrand (France)

During my current PhD position, I have had the privilege of serving as a teacher assistant where I have been actively engaged in facilitating tutorial sessions for students in the fields of statistics and probabilities. My course load includes:

-Introduction to R Programming: this 8-hour course is designed for Health Economics students to develop essential data analysis and visualization skills using R and RStudio. We covered topics such as: * Fundamentals of R and RStudio (data types, importing data, basic manipulations); * Data wrangling with tidyverse (filtering, transforming, and combining datasets); * Data visualization with ggplot2 (creating and customizing professional graphics); * Real-world applications in Health Economics (COVID-19, blood storage, medical data analysis). 📚 Course materials are provided in an R Markdown book format here for interactive learning.

  • Inferential statistics with Pr Anne Viallefont. We covered topics such as:
    • estimation (definition of an estimator, bias, variance, convergence, etc.);
    • confidence intervals and significance levels (for mean, variance, bias correction, etc.);
    • hypothesis testing (comparing two means, variances, or distributions, etc.).
  • Probabilities and mathematics with Pr Marie Eliette Dury. We covered topics such as:
    • probability distributions and approximations (normal, Poisson, binomial, etc.);
    • matrix calculation (calculation of the determinant, eigenvalue, inverse, diagonalization, etc.);
    • numeric sequence (arithmetic and geometric sequence, recurrence equation, etc.).

Education

The Center for Studies and Research on International Development (CERDI) was established since 1976. It was the first joint research unit, between the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a French university dedicated to development economics. CERDI mainly brings together economists, researchers from CNRS, IRD, and teaching researchers from the University Clermont Auvergne. Their areas of expertise are varied and cover both microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects of development. Research conducted at CERDI focuses on the study of international development processes, its drivers, and its economic, social, and environmental consequences. They revolve around three main axes: development finance, sustainable development trajectories, and the integration of developing countries into the global economy.

ENSAI is one of France’s most prestigious Grandes Ă©coles d’ingĂ©nieurs specialized in Data Science. It’s courses content include:

  • Machine Learning:
    • supervised learning (e.g., regression, decision trees, neural networks, random forest, etc.);
    • unsupervised learning (e.g., k-means, hierarchical clustering, KNN, NLP, etc.);
    • deep learning (e.g., CNNs, LSTMs, RNNs, GANs etc.).
  • Statistics and Mathematics:
    • descriptive statistics (mean, outliers, etc.) and distributions (normal, Poisson, etc.);
    • algebra and calculus (matrices, limits, optimization etc.);
    • probability and hypothesis testing (significance level, confidence interval, p-value, t-test, etc.).
  • Computer Science:
    • database computation (with SQL and MySQL);
    • data visualization and analytics (with matplotlib, ggplot2, dashboards, etc.);
    • programming languages: Python, R, Stata and SQL.

AMSE is a joint research unit of the CNRS jointly supervised by Aix-Marseille University (AMU), Centrale Méditerranée and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS). The core courses of the ETE master include:

  • Advanced Microeconomics and Macroeconomics:
    • economics of taxation (why taxes, first best taxation, etc.);
    • growth theories (endogenous growth and poverty traps etc.);
    • the empirical evidence (e.g., growth and inequality, industrial revolution, the role of institutions, etc.).
  • Advanced Econometrics:
    • resampling methods (e.g., monte carlo experiments, bootstrap, permutation tests, etc.);
    • nonparametric econometrics (e.g., density estimation, finite mixture models, etc.);
    • econometrics and machine learning (philosophy and general principle, misspecification detection, etc.).
  • Development Economics:
    • human capital (nutrition, education, health, etc.);
    • financial capital (microfinance and micro-savings, access to credit, etc.);
    • physical capital (property rights and technology adoption, etc.).

ENSAE is a higher education institution that is a member of the African Schools of Statistics Network (RESA). The core of the program are:

  • Statistics and Probabilities:
    • hypothesis testing (constructing a test, calculating p-values, t-tests, etc.) and analysis of variance;
    • conditional distribution and Bayesian inference;
    • estimation techniques (maximum likelihood estimator, dealing with bias and variance) and sampling methods.
  • Computer Science:
    • data mining using Python and R (data wrangling, data engineering and machine learning);
    • database management (with SQL and MySQL);
    • introduction to web development technologies such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and C.
  • Machine Learning:
    • time series analysis and forecasting (models of type ARIMA, SARIMA, ARCH, etc.);
    • multidimensional Data Analyst techniques (e.g., CA, PCA, MFA, AFDM, etc.);
    • various supervised and unsupervised algorithms (e.g., regression, clustering, decision trees, etc.).

Projects

*
Analysing Senegal Census Data
This project aims to use Senegal census data to understand population dynamics through spatial data analysis.
Analysing Senegal Census Data
Linking armed conflicts and children undernutrition in Nigeria: the mitigating effects of maternal bargaining power
This project examines the impact of armed conflict, specifically the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria on children’s nutritional outcomes. It also investigates how maternal bargaining power can mitigate these effects. The findings suggest that children born to women with low bargaining power are more adversely affected by the conflict highlighting the importance of policies to enhance female bargaining power in conflict settings.
Linking armed conflicts and children undernutrition in Nigeria: the mitigating effects of maternal bargaining power
Analysis of a Citizen Consultation “Covid-19 Crisis: How to invent together the world of tomorrow?”
This project aims to use NLP techniques to understand the themes that concern French citizens for the post-COVID period.
Analysis of a Citizen Consultation "Covid-19 Crisis: How to invent together the world of tomorrow?"
Economic Growth and Environmental Quality - The Case of West African Countries (ECOWAS)
This project explores the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality in West African countries using data-driven analysis.
Economic Growth and Environmental Quality - The Case of West African Countries (ECOWAS)

Contact

Feel free to get in touch with me! Whether you have questions, suggestions or simply want to say hello, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me through the contact form, email or phone number provided below. I look forward to connecting with you.