Consultant

Manickam Valliappan (he/him/his) is a Research Consultant at Shared Planet, with a strong academic background and professional experience that bridges the domains of economics, environment, and development. He holds an MSc in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of London. Before joining Shared Planet, he worked as a Research Associate in the consulting division at Euromonitor International, contributing to market research projects by assisting public and private sector clients with project management and analytics. His expertise also extends to the public sector, where he served as a Research Consultant at the Centre for Civil Society, a leading public policy think tank in New Delhi. In this role, he focused on the socio-economic impacts of biotechnology regulation for Indian farmers.

A researcher with a keen interest in innovative approaches that integrate both quantitative and qualitative techniques, Manickam has utilized novel datasets, such as night-lights satellite data, to explore developmental and environmental issues in remote areas. He is passionate about making research accessible to the public and regularly contributes to prominent Indian national media outlets such as The Hindu and The Financial Express. In these publications, he addresses a range of economic and social issues. He was also awarded the runner-up prize in the LSE US Phelan Centre Master's Essay Competition on Capitalism, which earned him an invitation to engage in policy discussions with the British American Parliamentary Group (BAPG) at the UK Parliament. His career is marked by a deep commitment to advancing knowledge for effective policymaking that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic development.