Muhammad Ahsan Rana is an academic and a development professional with rich experience of working in public and nonprofit sectors in Pakistan. He has been trained and educated in premier institutions in Law, Economics, Social Planning and International Development. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne in Development Studies. His PhD thesis examines the political economy of the commercialisation of genetically modified crops in Pakistan.
He started his career in 1990 as an officer of the Civil Service of Pakistan. Being member of the District Management Group, he served in various parts of Pakistan in different policy formulation and implementation positions. Since 1999, he has pursued his interests in development and research. During this period, he has held key positions in several leading Pakistani NGOs.
He has also worked with several national and international organisations as consultant on various assignments. His core areas of expertise are social policy, agricultural policy, and public sector governance. Organisations that he has worked with include ILO, USAID, Crown Agents, CIDA, JBS International, the World Bank, IFPRI and LUMS.
He currently teaches Social Policy and Agricultural Policy in the Suleman Dawood School of Business. He has prveiously taught undergraduate and post-graduate courses at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He has also taught executive courses at LUMS. He has written and published case studies and policy papers on social and economic development issues.