I am the founding editor-in-chief of In Development and the director of political data science at GeoQuant, a subsidiary of Fitch Solutions. I am also a non-resident fellow at the Energy for Growth Hub, the Centre for British Progress, and the Roots of Progress Institute.
I write about migration, growth, and cost-effective policy wins at Lauren Policy. Outside of my Substack, my work has been published in The Economist, Works in Progress (1, 2), Asterisk Magazine (1, 2, 3), Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post (1, 2).
Previously, I ran the Horizon Scanning Study Group at Renaissance Philanthropy, where I coordinated a network of scientists and technologists assessing UK science priorities. Before that, I was a research fellow at Open Philanthropy, directing research across 26 cause areas and managing a $5.7M portfolio. I've also done contract work for Michael Kremer's group at the University of Chicago Development Innovation Lab.
My academic background is in political science and physics. I was a PhD student at UC San Diego from 2018–2021, where my research focused on violence and its societal effects. Before that, I was an astrophysicist — I hold an MS in physics from UCSD and a BS from Caltech, where I worked with George Fuller on theoretical neutrino physics and cosmology.
I have also done various other things with my life. From 2016–2024, I was a QI elf, writing for @qikipedia and contributing to books like 222 QI Answers to Your Quite Ingenious Questions. I've appeared on BBC Radio 2 sixteen times. I hold two patents in extended reality technology. And I am a Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Qualified Laser Operator, which has come in handy exactly zero times since leaving Caltech.
When not working or writing, I am generally being bullied by my cat, Lyra.
