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Marie Lall is a South Asia area expert with a dual specialisation:

  • She works on education policy, curriculum and textbook issues, mother tongue and ethnic education, the privatisation of education, the formation of national identity as well as the linkage between national identity, citizenship and education in India, Pakistan and Myanmar.

  • She also works on issues of political economy, diaspora politics, foreign policy formulation, geopolitics and energy security in India, Pakistan and Burma/Myanmar.

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National and international consultancies

She has been a consultant for the British Council, the World Bank, UNICEF, DFID, AUSAID, DANIDA, IMG, DAI, ASI, IMC, DAAD, the Open Society and IISS. Some notable projects include:

  • Lead expert on the EU Mobility Programme for Myanmar, an EU-funded Higher Education programme linked to ASEAN SHARE. (SHARE 2023)

  • Lead consultant for the Myanmar Education Partnerships Project - MEPP Informing Partnerships between Government and Ethnic Basic Education Providers (World Bank 2018-2019)

  • Consultant to support the transformation of Higher Education in Myanmar by developing leadership capacity across 12 Myanmar universities through training, workshops and conference (THEMP). This included supporting the development of a new government institution for higher education development (NIHED). (British Council 2017-2018).

  • Lead consultant on a research project on who in Myanmar becomes a teacher and why (British Council 2014-2016).

  • Lead consultant on a research project to establish the role of Ethnic Political Parties in Myanmar’s reform and peace process in light of the 2015 elections (IMG &EU 2014-2015).

  • Lead consultant to review of the Connecting Classrooms project in Pakistan and Bangladesh 2011-2012 and conduct the Connecting Classroom’s baseline Myanmar in 2016 (British Council).

 

She was the Senior Education Advisor (fragile states) for AUSAID, Yangon, Myanmar (Nov 2012 – Nov 2014) supporting the Comprehensive Education Sector Review led by the Myanmar Ministry of Education and advising AUSAID on its education strategy in Myanmar, including in ethnic and conflict areas. This included organising and leading of two ground breaking ethnic education workshops in Yangon with representatives of all NSAG education departments.

 

FCO trainer – she was part of a team led by Kings College London that trains FCO staff from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (2013-2016)

 

Ministerial, government, and think tank briefings

She has provided bespoke briefings for the Bundesministerium fuer Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, Bonn, Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Tokyo and the Myanmar Ministry of Education. Other notable briefings and invitations include:

 

  • Trained Myanmar Education Ministry staff as part of a programme on Critical Thinking and management (funded by DANIDA) 2018-2019

  • Presented the research findings of World Bank funded project on ethnic education and possible partnerships to the Ministry of Education in NPT, Myanmar, March 2019.

  • Keynote speaker on interdisciplinary work and global partnerships at the AIIMS organised SIB annual conference, Delhi, India, December 2017.

  • Inaugurated the Difficult Dialogues Conference on Access to Healthcare in India (as UCL’s PVP), Goa, February 2017.

  • Invited to deliver a lecture on Indian Maritime Policy – the China factor at the Japan Maritime Self Defence Forces Command and Staff College, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 2016.

  • Delivered a lecture series on the 2015 Myanmar elections in New Delhi, India, March 2015.

        - Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Myanmar’s Peace Process. 

        - India International Centre (IIC) Myanmar: Challenges and Opportunities in light of the 2015 elections.

        - On-going reforms and emerging political situations in Myanmar at the Saturday Club.

  • Invited to the 10th IISS Muscat Conference, where Indian, Pakistani and Afghan policy makers (including intelligence services) were meeting to discuss security issues in light of the Afghan elections, the new Indian government and the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, 2014.

  • Between 2009 and 2014 Marie Lall took part in a Euro Burma Office and Ministry of External Affairs, India event in Kohima Nagaland, spoke at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) and the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, India; briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff, Capitol Hill, Washington DC. 

 

Country expert for the UK Asylum and Immigration Court, to assess/ comment on cases from Myanmar and Pakistan (since 2009).

 

Affiliate positions and honorary advisory roles

  • Invited to become a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2009. RSA is an international fellowship of 27,000 people that includes achievers and influencers from an extraordinary range of backgrounds and are selected on basis of their commitment to civic innovation and social progress:  See Click here

  • Honorary Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore (2007-2017).  

  • Associate Fellow of the Asia Programme at Chatham House (RIIA), (2004 – 2011).

  • Education adviser to The Citizens’ Foundation (TCF) Pakistan (2009-2015). TCF is Pakistan largest philanthropic sector school network with over 1000 schools.

  • Education advisor to Myanmar Egress (2008-2013). Myanmar Egress was Myanmar’s primary policy think tank and public policy training institute that helped engender the reform process. She supported the establishment of an academic research centre at ME by training staff in data collection and analysis (funded by the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Germany and the EU).

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Invitation as a specialist to industry events

Marie Lall is regularly hosted by industry associations to present at industry seminars in her specialism in energy and geopolitics. Some recent invitations:

  • Representing Universities UK as part of a team on an official Myanmar trip (Feb 2013)

  • MAP (Management Association Pakistan) convention  in Karachi – Invited to present a paper on ‘Pakistan: Strategic Perspectives in the New Context and the Resulting Challenges’ to industry representatives from around Pakistan (Dec 2012)

  • UKTI and Cities and Financial Conference on Myanmar in London – Invited to deliver a paper on education and business opportunities (September 2012)

  • PERI (Private Education Research Initiative), Dubai, UAE, Invited to the international consultation on privatisation of education in South and Southeast Asia (August 2010).

  • NBR conference in Washington (policy makers and industry reps) Click here for NBR site…(May 2010)

  • POGEE Oil and Gas Pakistan Exhibition (May 2010)

  • Seminar on Indian energy for business and industry reps at ISEAS (April 2010)

  • Terrabiz distinguished lecture series: India today rising star or land of snake charmers? Distinguished Lecture Series: Invitation by TerraBiz for Marie Lall See the article in Dawn Click here (September 2009)

  • Asia Society Bombay on India’s energy policy (Aug 2008)

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