Simeen Mahmud is Lead Researcher at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development at BRAC University in Bangladesh and co-ordinator of its Centre for Gender and Social Transformation. Prior to that, she was Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. She has a background in statistics and demography but her research experience is wide-ranging and includes publications on microcredit, labour markets, women’s empowerment and social mobilisation. She is co-investigator on the ESRC-DFID project on Choice, constraints and the gender dynamics of labour markets in Bangladesh.