Professor Alakh N. Sharma is currently Professor and Director of the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi. He has worked as faculty at leading academic institutions such as the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida; Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations, New Delhi; and A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna. He has directed/coordinated more than 30 research projects in various areas such as livelihoods, poverty, employment, and labour markets. He has authored/edited/co-edited 18 books and published around 50 research papers in various journals. He is also Editor of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics (IJLE), the quarterly journal of the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), and co-editor of IHD’s bi-annual journal, the Indian Journal of Human Development (IJHD). Currently, he is leading a major research and network programme on Employment, Social Protection and Inclusive Growth in South Asia, which is being supported by IDRC (Canada), UNESCAP and ILO.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in January 2015.