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Professor Esser's research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals such as World Development, Evaluation, Urban Studies, the Journal of Modern African Studies, the Journal of Social Policy, The Professional Geographer, Environment and Urbanization, Global Public Health, Third World Quarterly, Ethics & International Affairs, Communication Theory, and the Journal of Business Ethics, as well as in two Oxford Handbooks and other edited volumes. He serves as Associate Editor of Oxford Development Studies and is a long-time member and past-Chair (2021-23) of the AAG's Development Geographies Specialty Group (DGSG).

Following a two-year residency at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) in 2021-23, Professor Esser has since been holding a continuing appointment as Associate Researcher at IDOS. He has also been a non-resident Fellow at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in 2017-18; Academic Resident at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in 2013; Drugs, Security and Democracy (DSD) Postdoctoral Fellow of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in 2012-13; SPURS Research Fellow at MIT in 2003-04; and Carlo Schmid Fellow at the International Labour Office in 2001-02.

Professor Esser has won external funding from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Mellon-MIT Program on NGOs and Forced Migration, the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung), and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

As a consultant, Professor Esser has advised the World Bank, the OECD, USAID, the German federal government, FLACSO, and CARE International on program planning and has led evaluations of multi-million donor portfolios. In 2006-08, he worked full-time as an International Civil Servant with UNESCAP in Bangkok and UNDP in New York.

The 2019 Distinguished Service Awardee of the AAG's Asian Geography Specialty Group and 2015 SIS Scholar-Teacher of the Year, Professor Esser has directed the SIS Olson Scholars program and taught in American University's Honors program for several years.