Uma Kambhampati is a Professor of Development Economics and Head of the School of Politics Economics and International Relations at the University of Reading.
She has been at Reading since 1998. Prior to this, Uma obtained her BA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Her research has largely related to inequalities, especially by gender. In recent years, she has worked on women’s empowerment and well-being including women’s labour market participation and life satisfaction.
During the COVID pandemic, Uma has written about the role played by female leaders in tackling the pandemic and this paper has been picked up by the World Economic Forum and many of the leading newspapers. During this period, she has also worked on the impact that the pandemic has had on supply chains especially in the pharmaceutical sector.
Over the last 2 decades, Uma has worked on issues relating to childhood inequalities, particularly in relation to child work and schooling participation, inequalities between girls and boys as well as inequalities across social and religious groups. A third strand of her research relates to the issue of well-being and life satisfaction in the UK, including analysis of the extent to which conditions during childhood and youth influence the life satisfaction of adults. She has published extensively in all these areas.