He was a senior Fulbright Scholar at Economic Growth Center, Yale University and Reid Hall Scholar in Residence of Columbia University, Paris Campus. He was visiting faculty at Indian Statistical Institute (Calcutta), Calcutta University and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (Calcutta). He had undertaken several important projects from UNESCAP, ADB, World Bank, UNDP, PEP, GDN, IPPG, SANEI, Finance Commission, Planning Commission etc. He has also written numerous papers in international and national journals and edited books. Among his notable books are India’s Exports: An Analytical Study (with Sugata Marjit) published by Oxford University Press and International Trade in Services in India: Implications for Growth and Inequality in a Globalising World (with Prabir De) also from Oxford University Press. He also authored two District Human Development Reports for West Bengal (with Sushil Haldar) published by UNDP and Planning Commission of India. His forthcoming edited book (with Prabir De) is on Myanmar’s Integration with the World to be published as Palgrave Macmillan series by Springer.

In this capacity, he oversaw the World Bank program in the country in areas related to economic policy and poverty reduction. Dr. Rama obtained his PhD on Macroeconomics in France in the year 1985. Back to his home country, Uruguay, he worked in CINVE, the country’s largest think tank, and became one of its directors. In parallel with his World Bank duties, he was a Visiting Professor of Development Economics at the University of Paris until 2005. His recent publications include “Households or locations? Cities, catchment areas and prosperity in India”, “The recent disinflation and its implications: getting prices right”, “Addressing inequality in South Asia” etc.

construction of Social Accounting Matrices (SAM), analysis of poverty and income distribution and impacts of trade and tax policy reforms using static as well as dynamic Computable General Equilibrium models. Dr. Khondker was involved in designing and implementing a ‘Generalized Macro Economic’ framework on behalf of UN Regional Bureau for the Asia and Pacific (UN RBAP) to develop MDG financing strategy within the framework of MTBF and LTMF, which has been used in Mongolia and Nigeria to develop their MDG financing strategies. He has presented his analytical works in conferences held in Dhaka, The Hague, Quebec city, Kampala, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Colombo, Nairobi (Kenya), Abuja (Nigeria), Yaoundé (Cameroon) organized by organizations such as UNDP countries offices, UNDP regional Canters in Asian and Africa, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Labour Organization.

He has worked quite extensively on Applied Economics, especially assessing impacts of trade and economic policies, using country specific Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, GTAP models, Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) techniques, WITS/SMART partial equilibrium models, and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. He has experience in research on poverty and labour market dynamics using household survey data and micro- and macro-econometric modeling and estimation techniques. His research interests also include analysis of economic growth and political economy analysis of growth and development. He has a long experience in teaching international trade, economic modeling, quantitative economics, econometrics, development economics and poverty dynamics at Dhaka University. Dr. Raihan has worked for several national and international organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCAP, UNCTAD, IFPRI, the Commonwealth Secretariat, FAO, European Commission, ILO, IDRC, DFID etc.

He visited Washington and the United Nations in New York in May 2007 as the Special Envoy of the Present Caretaker Government, with the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister. Ambassador Sobhan served as Chairman of the Group of 77 at the UN 1982-1983, and was Chairman, UN Commission on TNCs 1991-1992. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), based in Kathmandu and was Co-Chairman of the Coalition for South Asian Co- operation (CASAC) from 1994-2001. He was a visiting professor at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University in 2003, where he taught a post graduate course on South Asia. He is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the independent Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), established in Dhaka in September 2007. He is the Chairman of an Advisory Committee on Counter Terrorism established in 2006, which includes senior officials of the government. Ambassador Sobhan has been a key-note speaker on various aspects of private sector development at conferences organised by the World Bank, IFC and DFID. He has over the years served on a number of international panels and advisory committees. He is currently a Member of the International Advisory Committee of the Asia Society in the U.S., the Round Table in the U.K., a Commissioner of the Ramphal Centres’ Commission on Migration and Development, a Board Member of the South Asian Center for Policy Studies and a member of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit in the U.K. He is a Patron of the Ramphal Centre in London. He chaired the Task Force established by the Asia Foundation in 2004 on “The US Role in South Asia”. Ambassador Sobhan has written extensively on international affairs and relations. His publications include a book entitled “Opportunities for South-South Co-operation” and as coauthor, “Shaping South Asia’s Future: Role of Regional Co-operation”. He has edited the following BEI publications: “Strengthening Cooperation and Security in South Asia Post 9/11”, “ Bangladesh-India Dialogue: Vision of Young Leaders”, “Dynamics of Bangladesh-India Relations: Dialogue of Young Journalists Across the Border”, “A Comparative Analysis of Corporate Governance in South Asia: Charting a Roadmap for Bangladesh” “Reducing the Cost of Doing Business in Bangladesh”, “Study of e-Commerce in Bangladesh”, “Study of e- Government in Bangladesh”, “Countering Terrorism in Bangladesh” and, “Trends in Militancy in Bangladesh: Possible Responses”, “Bangladesh-India Relations: Security Perspectives”, and Bangladesh-India Relations: Security Issues and Cooperation.

She is currently working on the “2016 National Study of the Changing Workforce”, an external project from the Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management, looking at factors that shape employee outcomes. She is particularly interested in understanding factors that shape women’s role and trajectories in the labor market. Her research on working mothers has been published by the Russell Sage Foundation and featured in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. She has previously conducted needs assessments and project evaluation in both urban and rural communities in India, helped found a non-profit in New Delhi for human rights based advocacy work for women and children trafficked for commercial sex work and conducted large-scale youth mobilization initiatives related to human rights advocacy. Pal holds an MSc. in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, UK, an MSW from the University of Delhi, India, and a BA (Honours) in Economics from the University of Delhi, India. She received her PhD in 2016, also from Columbia University where she specialized in Social Policy and Policy Analysis. Her doctoral dissertation is titled “Work, Family and Social Policy in the United States –Implications for Women’s Wages and Wellbeing”.

He was a faculty member of Dhaka University for 12 years, and worked for the World Bank and Harvard University. Currently he lives in Boston, USA and works as Information Technology Training Coordinator in a healthcare agency affiliated with Boston Medical Center. He writes a regular column, short stories, and the column “Letter from Boston” for the Literature Section of The Daily Star.

Prior to CSIS, he served as director for South Asia at McLarty Associates, leading the firm’s work for clients in India and the neighboring region. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Rossow was with New York Life Insurance company, most recently as head of International Governmental Affairs, where he developed strategic plans for the company’s public policy and global mergers and acquisitions work. From 1998 to 2008, Mr. Rossow served as deputy director of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), the world’s leading advocacy group on behalf of strengthening economic ties between the United States and India. While at USIBC, he managed the Council’s policy groups in the energy, information technology, insurance, media and entertainment, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Rossow received his B.A. from Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

He worked as a governance specialist for various research projects within and outside Bangladesh. He has extensively worked with Bangladesh National Parliament, government ministries and civil service organizations. Currently, he teaches Politics of Development, Qualitative Research Methodology, Public Policy Analysis and Civil Society and Development. He has a Masters of Philosophy from the University of Bergen, Norway; and Doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

She has experience in the field of democratization process, governance, civic leadership, youth and women empowerment both as developing and implementing youth empowerment and engagement programs and project as well as strengthening organizational capacity. She has consulted with Ministry of labour as the researcher and has published research on “informal labor market: non- Nepali labor in Kathmandu” and similarly in Ministry of Economics as the researcher on “Impact of informal market and money laundering”. She is graduate of Girls lead exchange program.

He has worked as an Economist at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), in Bangladesh. He works mainly on Applied Microeconomics, specifically, Public, Labor and Trade are his focus with a Development bend to it.

Her previous work includes a year-long fellowship in the microfinance industry in India, experience at Lok Foundation as a Research Associate working with survey creation and data analysis, and as a Research Assistant at the Center for Advanced Study of India at Upenn working on MSME data from the Indian census and qualitative interviews. She also has experience with the National Human Rights Commission of India, and at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. Saswathi also has 2 years of moderator experience leading discussion groups focused on social identity through the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. She holds a B.S.E in Electrical Engineering and a certificate in South Asian Studies from Princeton University.

Key themes in her work are public policy analysis, private sector development, and gender-sensitization in economic policymaking. Prior to joining CIPE, Ms. Philip was with the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has additionally worked for migration research and advocacy organizations in Kolkata, India and Buffalo, New York. She received a B.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

She has a career in international development. Recently, she had been working with McKinsey and Company on a DFID-UK funded project supporting the Government of Pakistan to improve the quality of education in public schools. She was responsible for developing teacher training and mentoring programs for over 185,000 teachers as well as designing training material and conducting province wide leadership and capability building workshops for senior education management officials. She has also been a part of the Social Innovation Lab, the first social enterprise incubator in Pakistan where she designed and led several training sessions on human centered design thinking and business canvas model. Prior to that, she has been managing several donor and government funded projects aimed at improving universal primary enrolment, improving multi-grade teaching and curriculum to name a few. Maria is a Fulbright Scholar and has a Masters in Non-Profit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is currently working as a Graduate Student Instructor and a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Carleton University. Before joining the Ph. D program, she worked as a lecturer at Independent University, Bangladesh. Her research interests are in the field of macroeconomics, macro-finance and business cycles. Her current research focuses on the impact of financial constraints on business cycle through firm balance sheet channels.