I am a Professor of Economics and Head of the School of Politics Economics and International Relations at the University of Reading. I have been at Reading since 1998. Prior to this, I obtained my BA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Economics from the University of Cambridge. My research has largely related to inequalities, especially by gender. In recent years, I have worked on women’s empowerment and well-being including women’s labour market participation and life satisfaction. Over the last 2 decades, I have also worked on issues relating to childhood inequalities, particularly in relation to child work and schooling participation, inequalities between girls and boys as well as inequalities across social and religious groups. I have published extensively in all these areas. Details of my publications can be found at https://www.reading.ac.uk/hedgehogs/about/staff/u-s-kambhampati.aspx. During the COVID pandemic, I have written about the role played by female leaders in tacking the pandemic and this paper has been picked up by the World Economic Forum and many of the leading newspapers (https://voxeu.org/article/women-leaders-are-better-fighting-pandemic, https://theconversation.com/are-women-leaders-really-doing-better-on-coronavirus-the-data-backs-it-up-144809). During this period, I have also worked on the impact that the pandemic has had on supply chains especially in the pharmaceutical sector (https://theconversation.com/the-whole-idea-of-global-value-chains-will-be-reconsidered-after-coronavirus-137132).

I work at UNSW Sydney and am a Senior Lecturer in and researcher of international relations, focusing on the global political economy and global governance.

- My training is in Maritime and transport Economics an have lectured in this field and related subjects for 13 years. - Over two and half of exploration, identification and consensus-building as researcher on Port Efficiency and Public-Private Capacity team researching the Port of Tema, Ghana on a DKK 4,997,029 grant from the Danish Foreign Ministry. The project focuses on three areas in the port of Tema, namely the Port Service Economy, Digitalization and Capacity Building. - A key asset of mine is the network of transport practitioners in the public and private sectors in Ghana and West Africa due to my position as lecturer and my engagement with the ministry of Transport as expert in the Transport Sector Working Group and Transport Planners group. - Through the research, we have been able to bring stakeholders together to identify the critical challenges in the port industry. We used a soft systems methodology that enables them to identify and find solutions to their challenges collectively. - Developed an in-depth knowledge of multi-disciplinary scientific literature and research design. - Successfully presented research results at stakeholder meetings, international conferences and focus group discussions under this project. - Worked as consultant on Liberia's portion of the Trans- ECOWAS highway setting out the regulatory and institutional framework and conducting traffic surveys.

Senior Lecturer in Politics & International Relations at UNSW Sydney; originally from Brazil.