Bo is a Data Scientist in the World Bank's Development Data Group. Based in Geneva, he serves as a Data Envoy, coordinating emerging data issues—from humanitarian data to trade and real-time monitoring—across the multilateral ecosystem in close collaboration with the Multilateral & UN team. He leads initiatives including Real-Time Development Indicators, serves as Technical Lead for the Joint Monitoring Report, and convenes the Let's Talk Data seminar series, connecting operational teams, partners, and decision-makers around timely, actionable data.
His work centers on food and nutrition security analytics and trade in fragile and data-scarce settings, where he has led projects across 25+ countries combining machine learning, geospatial analysis, and real-time data systems. He spearheads the Real-Time Food Prices dataset—a live compilation updated weekly through direct measurement and AI imputation—and manages the World Food Security Outlook, which has been central to establishing and replenishing the World Bank's Crisis Response Window. His earlier work with Aart Kraay on Predicting Food Crises helped shape the Bank's approach to famine early warning under the Famine Action Mechanism.
Bo holds a PhD in Econometrics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute, completed concurrently with full-time employment at Fragility, Conflict & Violence unit of the World Bank. His doctoral thesis, "Theory and Application of Dynamic Spatial Time Series Models," followed a BSc in Geology and Economics and an MSc in Economics. He has authored 60+ publications, datasets, and open-source tools, and has served as a reviewer for journals including Nature, World Development, and Global Food Security. He previously held a visiting position at the VU School of Business and Economics and serves as an adviser to UN-FAO on advanced technologies and AI for food security classification.