Vijayendra (Biju) Rao, a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, works at the intersection of scholarship and practice. He integrates his training in economics with theories and methods from anthropology, sociology and political science to study the social, cultural, and political context of extreme poverty in developing countries. He leads the Social Observatory, an inter-disciplinary effort to improve the conversation between citizens and governments.

Nandini Krishnan is a development economist with over 15 years of experience in poverty and equity analysis, labor markets, gender inclusion, climate vulnerability, and fragility. She is currently a Lead Economist at the World Bank’s South Asia Poverty and Equity Global Practice, where she co-leads the South Asia Jobs Accelerator and leads policy dialogue and analytical programs across India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. She has applied both traditional and innovative data approaches to support analytical work, while coordinating multidisciplinary teams and contributing to regional and global analytical programs on jobs, welfare, gender, and fragility. Dr. Krishnan has worked extensively across South Asia, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa, and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University.

Robin Mearns is the director of the Global Department for Social Development, formerly known as the Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) Global Practice, at the World Bank. Since joining the Bank in 1997, Dr. Mearns has held various positions in Washington, D.C., and in country offices across Africa, Latin America, East and South Asia regions, most recently as Practice Manager for Social Development in South Asia and Africa. He has led operations, policy dialogue and analytics in community and local development, as well as land and natural resource management. Robin also served as the first global lead on the social dimensions of climate change and as sector/program leader for sustainable development (then including infrastructure) in Southern Africa. Prior to joining the Bank, Robin spent a decade in research and teaching on environment and development policy at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. He holds master's and doctoral degrees in geography from Cambridge University and a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Sussex.

Deon Filmer is Director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. He has previously served as Acting Research Manager in the Research Group, Co-Director of the World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, and Lead Economist in the Human Development department of the Africa Region of the World Bank. He works on issues of human capital and skills, service delivery, and the impact of policies and programs to improve human development outcomes—with research spanning the areas of education, health, social protection, and poverty and inequality. He has published widely in refereed journals, including studies of the impact of demand-side programs on schooling and learning; the roles of poverty, gender, orphanhood, and disability in explaining education inequalities; and the determinants of effective service delivery.