Dr Sumedh Rao PhD CPsychol

Sumedh is currently a Research Associate at the University of Oxford and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He is an academic and policy researcher focused on conflict and governance issues. His academic research focuses on intergroup relations in conflict-affected contexts and works with qualitative and quantitative methods. Sumedh was awarded his PhD at the University of Birmingham and his thesis employed a social and political psychology perspective on identity, threat and trust in Northern Ireland. He holds an MPA (Sciences Po, Paris), BSc Psychology (UCL), and BSc Politics and International Relations (LSE).

Sumedh has worked as a policy analyst and researcher with the GSDRC/K4D, OECD, DFID, ODI and Development Initiatives. He has produced work for multilateral agencies (World Bank, UNDP, EC, WHO, OECD, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNECA, UNPBSO, UNESCO), bilateral agencies (DFID, Australia DFAT), governmental bodies (UK FCO, South Africa CoGTA), and non-governmental organisations (Amnesty International, U4 Resource Centre, International Justice Mission, Development Initiatives, Plan UK). Recent topics include conflict reduction, service delivery, public sector reform,  behaviour change, democratic assistance and conflict analysis.

Sumedh is a BPS chartered psychologist (CPsychol) and is fluent in French, Spanish, Japanese and Konkani.