Nisha Arunatilake

She heads the Labour, Employment and Human Resource Development unit at the IPS. Her work is published in both local and international journals, book chapters and reports.

Nisha Arunatilake has been a Research Fellow at IPS since 2000 and was appointed as the Director of Research in January 2018. She has extensive post-doctoral experience in conducting policy related economic research in labour market analysis, education, public finance and health. She heads the Labour, Employment and Human Resource Development unit at the IPS. Her work is published in both local and international journals, book chapters and reports.

She has collaborated with, and has been a consultant to different organizations, including the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF), Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and International Labour Organization (ILO) in numerous research studies. She was the lead author of the second National Human Development Report (2012) for Sri Lanka. She is a Research Associate of the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Institute of the Tulane University of New Orleans, USA. She is also a Research Fellow of the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP).

She has served in national level committees on labour, employment, human resource development, migration, health sector reform, and tobacco and alcohol policy formulation.

Nisha Arunatilake holds a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics with summa cum laude from the University of the South, USA and an MA and PhD in Economics from Duke University, USA. All three of her degrees were fully funded by university grants.

Nisha Arunatilake has been conducting research on adequacy and coverage of relief responses by governments for some time. She is researching the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the effectiveness of government relief efforts on reaching the most affected. Member of the Southern Voice network.

Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: effectiveness of relief responses by government, economic impact

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