Dr Mahreen Khan’s research explores how behavioural, institutional, and organisational dynamics shape inclusive and sustainable forms of work, leadership, and innovation, with a focus on emerging market contexts. She employs field experiments, quasi-experimental designs, and qualitative methods to study how firms and ecosystems adapt under resource constraints and institutional pressures to enable more inclusive growth.

Her recent projects include a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh examining how soft skills and behavioural interventions can improve youth employment outcomes; a study of how private and public labour governance systems interact to strengthen working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment supply chains; and research on mid-management training for female supervisors, which shows that such programmes can promote gender equity while also improving productivity and workplace culture.

Before entering academia, Dr Khan worked extensively in international development policy and practice. As Senior Economic Adviser to the Government of the Netherlands, she managed a €30 million portfolio focused on improving labour standards in Bangladesh’s textile sector. She also worked with Innovations for Poverty Action, where she led large-scale randomized controlled trials in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Uganda.