About

Welcome – I am a Professor at the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I am also Co-Director of the Executive MPA/MPP programme at the LSE.

I am a researcher-policymaker with over thirty years of experience equally spread between positions in academia and policy and the interface of research and policy. I connect the worlds of practice and research in pedagogy and in economic policy, focusing on how to design, negotiate and operationalise policy reforms.

As a researcher and analyst, I have worked on economic development, political economy, state fragility and geoeconomics. As a practitioner, I have worked on economic policy impact through various positions in public leadership, by promoting co-creation of knowledge and institution-building. My teaching has focused on geoeconomics, public organisations, and political economy.

My current work focuses on geoeconomics, political economy and economic policies. I am exploring innovations in public leadership, institution-building and advising governments and businesses.

I worked for four years in the UK Government as Chief Economist and Director Analysis of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). I am a member of the Advisory Council of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). I have been a member of the Steering Committee for United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Global Synthesis Coalition. I have also been the Chairperson for FCDO-BII Evaluations and Learning Steering Group for the British International Investment (formerly CDC).

I am an Affiliate of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, a co-leader of Reducing State Fragilities Initiative at the International Growth Centre, an Affiliated Researcher with the Political Economy group of Yale University’s Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE), and a founder board member of Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP). I have been an Associate with the Building State Capability Program at Harvard University’s Center for International Development (CID) and an Affiliated Researcher with Precision for Development (PxD).

Previously, I have also been the Academic Director of the School of Public Policy. I had also served as Research and Policy Director at the International Growth Centre at the London School of Economics in partnership with the Oxford University, where I have been responsible for commissioning new research, for connecting researchers with policymakers and promoting economic reforms in various parts of the world, especially in Africa and Asia. I have also been a Visiting Lecturer of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. I have co-chaired LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development.