Heiner Nian-Kang Janus is a Project Lead and Senior Researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) in Bonn, Germany, where he leads the institute’s research project on the effectiveness of development policy.
His research focuses on bureaucratic politics in development, international development cooperation, and development effectiveness. Bridging rigorous academic inquiry with policy relevance, his work examines how international actors learn, adapt, and coordinate to achieve development outcomes. He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals, including World Development, Public Administration and Development, Development Policy Review, Evaluation, and The European Journal of Development Research.
Prior to joining IDOS, Heiner worked as a consultant for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York, supporting international policy dialogues on sustainable development. He also completed his German civil service in Taichung, Taiwan, teaching at an elementary school.
Heiner earned his Ph.D. from the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester and holds an M.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of York. While completing his B.Sc. in Economics at Humboldt University of Berlin, he spent a semester at National Taiwan University (NTU) studying the political economy of East Asia.
