About me

I am an Assistant Professor in Public Policy at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA) and a faculty-member at the SGIA's largest research centre, the Centre for Institutions and Political Behaviour. I conduct research on informal management practices in public organisations and their influence on organsiational effectiveness in developing countries, using qualitative and quantitative methods and combining research and administrative data. I became very interested in effectiveness of public organisations, when working as a policy analyst in my home country of Myanmar - I am broadly interested in how humans organise their affairs. 

Before a Master in Public Affairs at Princeton and my doctoral study at Oxford, I led a policy research programme in Myanmar in 2012-17, advising two successive civilian governments during the country's decade-long transition to democracy. My research team, comprised of foreign and locally educated Burmese analysts together with researchers from Michigan State Univesity and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), studied rural economy and livelihoods to push for policy reforms, using nationally-represented surveys and case-studies. That work brought me to some of the remotest and most hard-pressing locations in Myanmar, and involved living eight months out of a year outside of my rented apartment in Yangon. But it was hugely rewarding: we presented research findings and pushed for policy reforms at various venues ranging from the stately 664-seat Myanmar Parliament to the private office of a stone-face general-turned-minister for a candid conversation. I dipped my hands in providing evidence for public policy on rural economy, migration and remittances, minimum wage, and the President's Delivery Units. This was where I learned the importance of public administration in giving life to policy reforms, and this led me to quit my job in 2017 to pursue first a Master in Public Affairs at Princeton and later a doctorate in public policy at Oxford. 

I believe conducting public management research in close collaboration with actual reformers on the ground is mutually beneficial - in advancing both academic knowledge and management practice. In this spirit, I have collaborated with committed public officials in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service in Ghana and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in Nigeria, along with reform-minded, private entrepreneurs in the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, among others. I run research training workshops with civil servants to contribute to institutional capacity and research dissemination workshops to inform policy change. 

I love teaching public management to the next-generation policy analysts and policymakers. I have taught public management and public policy courses to masters and bachelor students at Durham, Oxford, and LSE. Also, I have taught similar courses to top-level civil servants in Nigeria and those delivering vital services to the public amidst the civil war in Myanmar.

Beyond academic and policy work, I enjoy football, rock-climbing, hiking, the Greate British Bake Off, and Taskmaster.