Ms. Yousra Jamil holds a Master’s degree in “Development Economics and International Project Management” from the University Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) in Paris, France, and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). With a wealth of experience in teaching, she has contributed significantly to the field of education. She previously served as a lecturer of economics at Lahore Business School, The University of Lahore, and prior to that at Government Degree College for Women. Throughout her illustrious academic journey, she has undertaken various research projects in the field of economics, with her primary focus residing in the intricate dynamics of education, gender and their impact on economic empowerment.

Ms. Mishal Niaz is currently pursuing her PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies from University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Ms. Niaz obtained Masters degree in Development Studies from Information Technology University (ITU) and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). She has been working as a researcher for prestigious organisations like University of Warwick, Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) and Rizq Trust. She is an interdisciplinary researcher with a keen interest in studying the relationship between women’s empowerment and welfare outcomes in Pakistan. She is particularly interested in investigating the effectiveness of policies and programmes by international and national bodies designed to impact women’s empowerment.

Ms. Aleena Pasha has done her M.Phil Economics from the University of Punjab. She did her research on ‘The Impact of Macroeconomics and Political Variables on Financial Stability of South Asian Countries’. She previously worked in Punjab Education Foundation as well as Government College. She is proficient in working on GIS (Geographic Information System). Her teaching expertise is in the field of Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, Development Economics, Research methodology and Computer Application.

Mr. Abdullah Khan has a PhD in Finance from the Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS) and a Masters degree in Economics from the Lahore School of Economics. Before joining ITU, Mr. Abdullah served as an adjunct faculty member at LUMS, where he taught courses in finance. He has also published in reputable international journals such as Pacific-Basin Finance Journal and Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. At ITU he teaches at both undergraduate (BSEDS) and graduate (EMBA and MSDEVS) levels.

COURSES TAUGHT

• Principles of Finance
• Intermediate Finance
• Financial Economics
• Managerial Economics
• Introduction to Economics
• History of Economic Thought
• Islamic Economics
• Competing in the Global Economy
• Institutions, Violence and Development
• Technology and Policy
• Precalculus: Basic Mathematics
• Research Methods

Ms. Maleeha Sattar has over four years of university teaching experience. She has worked in Social Sciences Department of Iqra University, Islamabad. She has also taught as a visiting faculty member at Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Bahria University, Islamabad. Reflective of her multidisciplinary background she has taught following courses: Social Change and Development Issues, Politics of Development in Pakistan, Politics of Developing Countries, Development Aid: Theory and Practice, History of Development, Introduction to Development Studies, Media and Politics and Media and Research.

For almost two years she has been assisting The Citizen Foundation to hire principals in the schools of the North West Region. Prior to joining academia, she has worked for three years as a Monitoring and Evaluation consultant on projects commissioned by well-reputed NGOs, INGOs and public sector organizations. In this capacity, some of the major projects she worked on dealt with broader areas of health and livelihoods of Afghan refugees, skill development of rural youth in South Punjab, monitoring service delivery standards for maternal and neo-natal child healthcare program, and evaluating the efficacy of tuberculosis Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM) activities.

In her recent academic study employed critical social analysis as a methodological strategy and problematized the gatekeeping role of English as a compulsory subject in Pakistan. For her six-month qualitative fieldwork, she interviewed secondary school students of private and public institutes and evaluated the implicit and explicit language policies in schools from the perspective of adolescents facing the repercussions of these policies. She also analyzed data of selected secondary boards which showed during the last 10 years, on average, 32% students fail in English compulsory every year. Her fieldwork showed that in the context of differential access and quality of English learning opportunities, English compulsory acts as an academic gatekeeper and unfairly marginalizes or excludes students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Based on her findings, she has recently contributed a chapter on the Gatekeeping Role of English in Pakistan’s Education System in a forthcoming book titled Reforming School Education in Pakistan and the Language Dilemma. Currently, she is doing a discursive analysis of the educational policies in Pakistan.

Maleeha Sattar has a multidisciplinary background. She has done her MPhil in Development Studies from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad. Her Masters is in Communication Studies with a specialization in Print Media and Mass Communication Theory. She did her BA from Forman Christian College with English Literature and Psychology as majors.

Fatima Hasan has a Masters in Critical and Creative Writing from the University of Sussex, and a Bachelors in English Literature and Languages from Beaconhouse National University. She is the editor of three published books and has several short stories published with The Desi Collective. She is a member of Transdisciplinary Agora For Future Discussions (TAFFDs) – a literary organisation based in Africa. She is currently working on multiple research projects.

Dr. Haris Khan has a Ph.D. Management from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) with specialization in Finance, an MBA from IBA Karachi and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Karachi. Before joining academia, he had served in the IT industry for around a decade, working for UBL launching Omni, Microsoft launching Dynamics AX, and K-Electric for their SAP rollout. As a unique value addition to ITU, he also brings insight about the synergy of technology and business in the economy, as he envisions the technological dependence of the economic systems on the increasing transition from an operational capacity to one of strategic nature.

Dr. Aftab Nasir completed his PhD at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, Germany. In his doctoral research, he explored the linguistic dimension of empowerment within the educational and judicial sectors of Pakistan.  In addition to his academic engagements, he is working as a co-convenor of a working group titled “post-colonial perspectives on Development” at European Association of Development Research and Training Institute (EADI). Furthermore, he co-manages a website on decolonial thinking that is available at: www.convivialthinking.org.

Dr. Farrukh Mahmood has completed his Ph.D. with a specialization in Econometrics, from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. In addition to that, he has also completed MSc. Economics and MPhil Economics and Finance Degree from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. He has served as visiting faculty at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, National Defense University, University of Lahore, University of Central Punjab, SZABIST, NED University of Engineering and Technology. He has also served as an Assistant Professor at Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, where he has performed various administrative positions such as Head of Department, Academic Advisor Ph.D. The program, Member of Graduate Studies, Member of Board of Advanced Studies and Research, Research Coordinator. In addition, he was a part of the prestigious research journal, i.e., Jinnah Business and Economics Research Journal, as an Academic Advisor.

Dr. Kafeel Sarwar holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Heidelberg University, Germany — a globally renowned institution. His research interests lie in development economics, with a particular focus on education decentralization, child health, and the convergence of poverty and inequality across regions. Dr. Sarwar has actively contributed to the academic community by presenting his work at several prestigious international conferences, including those organized by the Econometric Society, European Economic Association, French Economic Association, Italian Economic Association, and the Lincoln Development Economics Conference. His research combines rigorous empirical analysis with strong policy relevance, aiming to inform and improve development outcomes in diverse contexts.