About me

I am an agricultural and development economist and applied researcher. My research examines how climate and environmental shocks and stressors, such as natural disasters, sand and dust storms, and salinity, together with market constraints and policy interventions, affect agricultural productivity, food security, and the welfare and resilience of farm households. I apply econometric methods, including causal inference and impact evaluation, to household and farm survey, administrative, climate, and geospatial data, and I have experience constructing and harmonizing large datasets in data-scarce settings.

My empirical research focuses mainly on Afghanistan, with additional studies on Mongolia, Iraq, and quinoa adoption in marginal areas of the Middle East and North Africa. Through research-for-development projects, I have also carried out implementation work and field missions in Africa.

I have worked across academia and research for development. I am currently an External Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade (CREDIT), University of Nottingham, where I was a Research Fellow from 2022 to 2025, and a MESA Global Academy Scholar (2025–2027). From 2019 to 2022 I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), an international agricultural research-for-development center, where I served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on externally funded projects on agricultural resilience, technology adoption, and value-chain development, combining research design, survey development, impact evaluation, and policy reporting. Earlier, as Senior Economist and Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning at the UK Department for International Development (DfID, now FCDO) in Afghanistan (2012–2015), I led an evaluation team and contributed to program appraisal and household survey research. During this period I also held a teaching-focused faculty appointment at Kabul University, teaching agricultural economics.

I hold a PhD in Economics (focus: agricultural and development economics) from the University of Nottingham and an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University. My work includes 11 peer-reviewed journal articles, in Food Policy, The Journal of Development Studies, PLOS ONE, and other journals, as well as book chapters and policy reports for FAO and partners. I gave an invited talk at Stanford University (Center on Food Security and the Environment) in April 2026.

I welcome opportunities to collaborate with universities, think tanks, and research and policy institutions working on agricultural and food policy, climate resilience, and rural economic development.

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