S. Irudaya Rajan is Chair of the International Institute for Migration and Development, India and also chair of the KNOMAD (The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development) World Bank working group on internal migration and urbanization. Prior to this, he was Professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Kerala (close to 40 years of research experience).
He is one of the expert committee members to advise the Government of Kerala on Covid-19. He has published in international journals on social, economic, demographic, psychological and political implications of migration on individuals, community, economy and society. He is the editor of the annual series India Migration Report since 2010 and South Asia Migration Report since 2017 published by Routledge and Founding Editor in Chief, Migration and Development.
Rajan has completed eight rounds of Kerala Migration Survey since 1998 with K C Zachariah (formerly World Bank Demographer) and replicated them in states such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Goa in the past and now making progress two new states – Odisha and Jharkhand in 2023.