Shelby Carvalho

I’m a PhD candidate in Government and Political Science at Harvard University studying Comparative Politics and Political Economy. My dissertation project focuses on the political economy of refugee inclusion in low- and middle-income countries.

My academic interests are shaped by more than a decade of professional experience in education and international development. It’s important to me that my research and teaching address real-world challenges. As a result, I straddle academic and policy worlds as a researcher and international development consultant. My areas of expertise include education, forced displacement and migration, gender, international aid and public finance, and labor markets.

At Harvard, I’m an affiliate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, the Center for International Development, and the REACH Initiative. Externally, I regularly consult with UNHCR and others as a political economy analyst, am an education expert with the Center for Global Development, a Fulbright recipient, an affiliate of the REAL Centre at Cambridge University, and a visiting scholar with J-PAL Africa.