Office of the Director

Director

Mr. Shantanu Mukherjee is an economist with interests in poverty, inequality and sustainable development. His professional experience spans the United Nations system, national government and academia.

His current work encompasses the economic analysis of emerging and long-run trends relevant for sustainable development; shorter term macroeconomic forecasts; and assessing the development progress of the least developed countries. Previously, he headed the policy analysis function of the Division for Sustainable Development Goals, where a particular area of focus was in enhancing the impact of science, technology and innovation in advancing sustainable development.

Prior to joining UN DESA, he led the research and writing team of UNDP鈥檚 Human Development Report. This was preceded by a stint as head of UNDP鈥檚 global MDG policy work, during which he helped developed its signature MDG Acceleration Framework and worked closely with development entities across the UN system.

Mr. Mukherjee is a national of India, where he began his career in development policy and public finance. He has also worked with national planning, finance and sector ministries in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He holds a doctorate in Economics from Princeton University, as well as advanced degrees in Public Policy and in Physics 鈥� having also taught all of these subjects at different periods.

The Director coordinates the main activities of the Economic Analysis and Policy Division (EAPD). EAPD provides research and policy analysis on global macroeconomic trends and prospects, frontier issues, emerging issues, and issues associated with countries in special situations, in the broad context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. EAPD also serves as the Secretariat to the Committee for Development Policy, an independent advisory body to the Economic and Social Council which provides recommendations on cross-cutting development issues and reviews the status of countries in the least developed country (LDC) category. EAPD manages capacity development projects in developing countries, providing assistance through research, training and workshops. The Director also manages the EAPD鈥檚 human resource and programme management and coordinates the production and distribution of the Division鈥檚 official documents, publications and research papers.