Nilmini Herath

I am a PhD Economics candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I am on the 2025-26 Job Market.

Fields: Political Economy & Development, Network Theory.

Advisors:
Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, Gharad Bryan, Francesco Nava.

Placement Officer: Matthias Doepke: m.doepke@lse.ac.uk

I explore the impact of social networks on political economy and development outcomes, including health, polarization and labour markets. I do this using a mix of graph theoretic modelling and field experiments that test the implications of network theory in settings with network spillovers.

Before starting my PhD, I was the head of research at J-PAL Africa. I worked with leading development economists and oversaw hundreds of field staff in the execution and policy uptake of RCTs over five years. I continue to hold close ties to J-PAL, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and policy actors in Sub-Saharan Africa, where much of my research is focused. I remain a proud Saldrupian despite the physical distance.

I wrote about my experience of doing a PhD while having a young child here.

You can reach me at n.s.herath [at] lse.ac.uk.

Here’s my CV and Job Market Paper, which was featured in the World Bank’s Development Impact blog.

LSE bio here. University of Cape Town bio here. Here’s an LSE Q&A Researcher Profile about me.