Summary

I am currently serving as a HoD Research and Assistant Professor at the Jinnah School of Public Policy & Leadership (JSPPL), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Islamabad. Earlier, I worked as an ISEF Research Fellow at the Environmental Planning Research Institute (EPI), Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea. I hold Ph.D in Public Policy from the Korea Development Institute (KDI), School of Public Policy and Management specializing in impact evaluation of interventions for sustainable development outcomes in developing countries. I primarily work with impact evaluation methods in experimental and quasi-experimental settings that help policy analysts assess the effectiveness of government policies in an unbiased way. For my JMP, we find ideal conditions for a natural experiment that allowed us to establish a causal relationship between a technology-based externally controlled schools’ monitoring program and improvements in learning outcomes in the KP province, Pakistan. We apply various techniques, including difference-in-differences, event study, and instrumental variables to causally attribute effects to the program. Recently, the working paper of this research has received the Innovative Policy Best Paper Award from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Economic Association (IEA) for the year 2023. This prestigious award, with a prize of $7,000, was formally presented during the ADB-IEA award session at the 2023 ADB Annual Meeting on May 5th, 2023 (the announcement is available at Winners of the 2023 ADB–IEA Innovative Policy Research Award).

Academic Background

Honours and Awards