LUMS Faculty Members Join Esteemed MIT Poverty Action Lab

Two LUMS Professors Become First Pakistani Academics to Join MIT's J-PAL

Pioneering Pakistani Academics Join Global Poverty Lab

Two faculty members from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Dr. Ali Cheema and Dr. Farah Said, have made history by becoming the first academics from a Pakistani university to be invited to join the prestigious Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Cheema, the Vice Chancellor of LUMS, specializes in political economy and development, while Dr. Said, an associate professor of economics, focuses on gender, labor markets, and poverty.

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Recognized for Impactful Economic Research

J-PAL, an institution co-founded by Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, is a global leader in evidence-based policymaking for poverty reduction. The lab’s affiliates include prominent economists from top universities worldwide, with five Nobel laureates among them. Dr. Said and Dr. Cheema's selection acknowledges their significant contributions to economics and political economy, with their work published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Political Economy and Science.

Shaping the Future of Global Economic Research

LUMS hailed this milestone as a major achievement for the university, Pakistan's economic community, and the nation as a whole. Both professors expressed that their research is a collaborative effort and an exciting time for Pakistani economists, as a growing number of scholars of Pakistani origin are influencing global research on critical issues. They noted the emergence of a new generation of exceptional Pakistani scholars who are asking profound questions about why economies and societies are not delivering for their people.