Poonam Panda started as a Doctoral student at IER in 2023. She is studying the ways in which migrant workers deal with the challenges of job insecurity and risk at their destinations.

Prior to this, she most recently worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Good Business Lab (a research organization that aims to align worker wellbeing with business interests).

In her six years of work experience in India, she held several roles in policy research organization like JPAL South Asia and some community-based organizations that worked on rural livelihoods.

She has worked on multiple labour market projects on information asymmetry and role of ICT in matching job seekers to employers. She has also worked on a project which assessed the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on the migrant workers in India.

She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex, and a Masters in Women's Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Areas of Interest:

Her areas of interest include migration, gender, social protection, and public policies on worker wellbeing.