Samar Verma

Samar Verma is Senior Program Specialist at International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. He manages the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) programme in South Asia (and more recently a similar suppot to think tanks in Myanmar). Before joining IDRC, he was the global head of the economic justice policy team at Oxfam Great Britain, based at Oxford, UK. He was also the founder director and chairman of Consortium of Trade and Development, a not-for-profit think tank. Previously, he had been Oxfam’s South Asia advisor on trade policy. As Senior Fellow with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), he has published widely on international trade and competitiveness. Most recently, with Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, he jointly edited a semi­nal book on Social Science Research in India: Status, Issues, and Policies. With over two decades of professional experience in corporate sector, conducting policy research, international development and research grant management based in India and in the UK, Samar holds a PhD in economics and an MBA.