Dr Mahreen Khan is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Development at the University of Oxford and a Junior Research Fellow in Management at Jesus College, Oxford. She completed her Ph.D. in Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, holds a Master’s in Economics from the Paris School of Economics, and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Management from MIT.
Her research explores how behavioural, institutional, and organisational dynamics shape inclusive and sustainable forms of work, leadership, and innovation in emerging economies. Current projects include a randomised control trial on how soft skills influence youth employment outcomes, an examination of the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa’s green economy, and studies of organisational innovations in global supply chains and management training in Bangladesh’s garment sector. Across these streams, her work advances conversations in strategy, entrepreneurship, and organisational studies on how firms and ecosystems adapt under resource constraints, institutional pressures, and opportunities for inclusive innovation.
Prior to academia, Mahreen worked extensively in international development policy and practice. She served as Senior Economic Adviser for the Government of the Netherlands, where she managed a €30 million portfolio aimed at improving workers’ rights and labour standards in Bangladesh’s textile sector. She also worked with Innovations for Poverty Action, leading the implementation of large-scale impact evaluations using randomised control trials in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Uganda.
