I am a political economist with an interest in the political economy of development, focusing on informal institutions, economic resource allocation, the developmental impact of information and communication technology, and post-war state-building challenges (For more on my research, see here and here).
I hold a PhD in Development Policy from University College London and an MA in International Political Economy from King’s College London. Most recently, I was a Teaching Fellow in Comparative Politics of Development and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs. Previously, I held a UK Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at SOAS, University of London, and served in teaching support roles across the UK higher education sector. In 2024, I became an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Beyond academia, I engage with policy and practice, most recently as an International Consultant for UNESCO. I previously advised Afghanistan’s Minister of Economy on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and have held roles at the UN Headquarters in New York, the EastWest Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. I have also written over 50 op-eds (in English and Persian) for online media, including BBC, The Conversation, The Royal United Services Institute, and Foreign Policy to discuss policy and research outputs with a broader public.
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, I have lived as a migrant in Pakistan, studied an economics undergraduate in India on an Indian government scholarship, and moved to the U.S. in 2010 on a diversity immigrant visa. Now based in Strasbourg, France, I am married to a French citizen.