Saurabh Sinha joined NCAER as Senior Advisor with the Human Development and Data Innovation Centre after a long career with the United Nations.
Saurabh has a PhD from IDS Sussex (UK) and more than 35 years of international economic research, research management, policy advisory and teaching experience in the field of social policy including poverty and inequality reduction, employment, social protection, population dynamics, migration, youth and ageing.
In 2015-24, Saurabh was the Chief, Social Policy at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to joining ECA in 2015, Saurabh was Senior Economist with UNDP in Mongolia and has worked with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNDP Viet Nam, and as a consultant to various UNDP Country Offices, the World Bank and bilateral donor agencies. In 2021-23 Saurabh was on secondment to UNDP as Head of Policy Unit with UNDP Afghanistan, where he led the research and analytical work in the Country Office to support policy engagement after the collapse of the government in August 2021.
Saurabh is the lead author of a number of publications both in Africa and Asia-Pacific and at various times has taught development economics at Sussex University; National Economics University, Hanoi; and IIT, Delhi.
Devneel Goswami currently serves as a Partnerships Associate at NCAER-NDIC with the responsibility of managing stakeholder relations, liaising with partner organisations and ensuring the visibility of the organisation’s academic and professional portfolio. He is a dedicated Public Policy Professional who has closely worked at the intersection of Policy, Partnerships, Project Management and Communication in the Public sector. Devneel completed a B.A. (Hons) in History with a minor in Political Science from Hindu College, University of Delhi after which he reported as a Journalist for The Wire. Following it up with a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Bristol, Devneel went on to supervise the implementation of policy interventions in rural blocks of Bihar as a Policy Associate at the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change.
Devneel is a firm believer in the ability of Public Policy to bring about positive change in society and generate mass impact. He is also a strong advocate of an interactive relationship between policymakers and the media in order to close the gap of understanding between the creation of Public Policy and the aspirations of the masses. Additionally, he is a published author with the Cambridge Journal of Science and Policy with a research paper titled, “Towards the Equitable Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines in Africa”. Devneel’s interests lie in Policy Analysis, Policy Communication, Human Development and tracing the spectrum of his Assamese identity using an academic lens.
Richa Jha holds a Master’s degree in Economics from O.P. Jindal Global University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. Her academic inclination is towards empirical development economics and economic inequality, with a strong interest in working with large datasets. Previously, she has interned with NABARD’s Department of Economic Analysis and Research, where she evaluated innovative financing models for farmer producer organizations.
Swapneel Biswas is a Research Associate in the Human Development and Data Innovation Department at NCAER. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Jadavpur University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Presidency University Kolkata.
He has experience in empirical analysis using software packages, STATA, R and Tableau. His research interests lie in Development Economics, Political Economy and International trade.
Athira Vinod is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC) at NCAER. Her primary research interests are in development economics, education economics and applied microeconomics. She has previously worked as a research assistant at not-for-profit organizations such as the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India.
Athira holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Nottingham, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Birmingham and a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Delhi.
