Alia is a research affiliate at ISDC and a micro-economist specialising in statistics and evidence-based decision making through the collection and analysis of household surveys, supporting national statistical systems, improving uptake of data and statistics, and analysing data and evidence rigorously and scientifically. She completed her PhD at the Institute of Development Studies, where she collected a unique data set on the socio-economic conditions of refugees from Nahr el Bared Camp in the North of Lebanon. Her research interests include the experience and consequences of violent conflict, including displacement, behavioural economics and trust and cooperation.
She has managed or contributed to the data collection of large surveys in Pakistan, Ghana, Maharashtra, India, Liberia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. She has recently worked with UNICEF to develop strategies on improving the availability, quality and use of data for children in the MENA region. This builds on recent work in Lebanon that developed a strategy for improving the quality and use of the Education Management Information System as part of the DFID funded Reaching All Children in Education II. In Uganda, Alia has co-developed a policy analysis and strategy document for DFID to invest in the country’s changing demographics, with the aim of ensuring that the youth are healthy, well-educated, have access to jobs and a governance system to support them.
