Fatima Husain

Fatima Husain is a senior research leader at RAND Europe and Deputy Director of the Education, Employment and Skills team.

With more than 25 years’ experience in social research, she has worked across early years and education, welfare and employability, and children and families, including parenting. Her expertise spans qualitative research and mixed-methods studies, including implementation and process evaluations, and oversight of randomised controlled trials in social settings. Across this work, she has sought to maintain a strong focus on strengthening equity and inclusion in research design, delivery and evaluation practice.

Earlier in her career, Husain established the health policy team at the National Centre for Social Research and later served as Director of the Children and Families team, overseeing a multi-million-pound portfolio of projects. Her clients have included government departments, non-departmental public bodies, What Works Centres and charities.

Before joining RAND Europe, she led business development at NatCen, improving proposal development processes, strengthening partnerships and supporting more consistent collaborative practice. In that role, she guided large-scale proposals, provided quality assurance, delivered training and chaired one of the organisation’s Research Ethics Committees.

Husain holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Delaware, USA. She is a Race Equity Associate at the Youth Endowment Fund, a member of the Complex and Theory-Based Evaluation Advisory Group at the Youth Futures Foundation, and a member of the Evidence and Evaluation Advisory Panel at Foundations: What Works for Children and Families.