Lena Simet

Lena Simet is the Senior Researcher and Advocate on Poverty and Inequality at Human Rights Watch. Her research focuses on social protection measures that fail to prevent people from falling into poverty, and the precarious labor conditions experienced by on-demand workers in the gig economy. She also investigates how austerity-driven budget cuts and the privatization of basic essential services can undermine human rights.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, Lena was the coordinator and lead researcher of the Global Urban Futures Project, a research group on inequality, jobless economic growth, and climate change at The New School University in New York. She has taught in the graduate program in international affairs at The New School, and the economics department at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She also worked as a consultant for various non-governmental and international agencies, including UNDP, UN-Habitat, and GIZ. Lena holds a Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy from The New School.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) The New School (2014 — 2020)
• Visiting Scholar University of Buenos Aires (2017 — 2017)
• Master's Degree New School University (2012 — 2014)
• EMA Diploma Euro-Business College, ISM (Munich, Germany) (2007 — 2010)
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) University of Sunderland (2007 — 2010)
• Abitur Gymnasium Ottobrunn, Germany (1998 — 2007)
• Lycée Français Louis Pasteur de Lagos, Nigeria (2005 — 2005)

Companies

• Senior Researcher of Poverty and Inequality Human Rights Watch (2020)
• Researcher Cities Alliance (2018 — 2020)
• Lead Analyst, Evaluation Expert for Slum Upgrading Instituto de Vivienda de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (2017 — 2020)
• Teaching Fellow The New School (2017 — 2020)
• Coordinator and Lead Researcher - Global Urban Futures Project The New School (2014 — 2020)
• Researcher Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2019 — 2019)
• Country Coordinator - International Field Program Argentina The New School (2018 — 2018)
• International Expert UNDP (2017 — 2018)
• Researcher CAF - banco de desarrollo de América Latina (2017 — 2018)