Neha Bansal joined ERIA in October 2025 as a Policy Fellow in the Policy Design and Operation Department. She is a Senior Social Development Specialist with 20 years of experience serving the United Nations, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. Her previous roles include serving as UNDP’s Senior Policy Specialist and negotiator for India’s G20 presidency, where she contributed to the G20 Leaders’ Green Development Pact and the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration.

Neha has also worked as a Senior Programme and Social Policy Expert for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (Government of the United Kingdom) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Her work has spanned mandates such as social protection, green growth, climate-proofing development in Asia, gender equality, labour and labour migration, and disaster risk financing for Pacific Island nations.

Driven by her interest and expertise in Asia, Neha founded Asianism-Retold, an initiative showcasing development pathways from Asia through which she has provided advisory support to governments in South Asia. For her contributions, she received the prestigious Asia Fellowship from Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and was also recognised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

In her spare time, Neha is a trained Indian classical dancer and has performed in India and the United States.

Neha graduated from Harvard University (Harvard Kennedy School) with a Master in Public Policy.