Dr. Rupa Chanda

Director, Trade, Investment and Innovation, UNESCAP

Rupa Chanda is the Director of Trade, Investment and Innovation. Prior to that, she was a Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) where she taught Macroeconomics and International Trade and received several teaching awards. She also served as Dean, Programmes at IIMB. Earlier, she worked as an Economist at the IMF and briefly served as Head, UNESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi. Prof. Chanda received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and her Bachelor’s from Harvard University. Her research interests include the WTO, trade in services, regional integration and migration. She has undertaken research and professional assignments for international and Indian organizations and has published extensively in the form of books, journal articles, book chapters, and reports. She is active professionally as a research guide, reviewer, and member of several expert committees. She was a member of the WHO’s Review Committee on the functioning of the International Health Regulations (2015-16) and the WHO’s Expert Advisory Group, International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2019-20).