Meet the team

Strategic Leads

Nava Ashraf

Founder and Director

Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Oriana Bandiera

Co-Founder

Sir Anthony Atkinson chair in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Zijun (Jerry) Lin

Lab Manager

MRes/PhD student at LSE, economist and computer scientist.

Research Affiliates

Alexia Delfino

Assistant Professor of Economics at Bocconi University

Luigi Zingales

Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Virginia Minni

Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Christiane Szerman

Assistant Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Martina Zanella

Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin

Bennet Feld

PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Akash Uppal

MRes/PhD student at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Matthew O’Brien

PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Practitioners in Residence

Barbara Bennet

Chief Executive and Director General, Jobs and Careers Service Operations, UK Government

Nick Dalton

Executive Director at Herrliberg Consulting (previously EVP HR, Unilever)

Pre-doctoral Fellows

Cármen Pegas

Senior Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Work areas: Communities of contribution, gender economics

Hisham Abdullah

Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Work areas: Communities of contribution, youth unemployment

Matteo Fossi

PhD student at the University of Southern California

Aris Chrysafis

Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Work areas: Future of Work(ers), communities of learning and big companies

Neha Verma

Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Work areas: Community Empowerment and Resilience, bringing insights from the Global South.