Dr Dr Marissa Kaloga MSW, RSW, PhD
Research focus
Dr. Marissa Kaloga is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at University of Otago in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her community based research focuses on inclusive entrepreneurship, and how to promote social and economic justice through coordinated systems change. She has conducted mixed-methods applied research in Africa, Asia, North America, and Oceania, with diverse communities including sex workers, refugees, and women in extreme poverty. As Director of Innovation at The Economic & Community Development Institute, a leading SBA microlender and CDFI in the US, she lead the Business Innovation Center and Women's Business Center, where she created and implemented evidence based programs to support entrepreneurship in marginalized communities. She was the 2018-2019 Fulbright Scholar to Guinea at Université General Lansana Conte - Sonfonia’s (UGLC) Center for Research on Society, Democracy, and Sustainable Development and Laboratoire d'Analyse Socio Anthropologiques de Guinée (LASAG). Her research interests include: Community Development, Systems Innovation, Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion & Economic Justice, Women’s Empowerment, Eco-social Work, International Social Work, Global Health/ Social Determinants of Health, Qualitative Methods, Social Network Analysis