Mira Philips, MSc

Mira Philips is a PhD student at the School of Social Policy and Practice and a University of Pennsylvania Presidential PhD Fellow. Her doctoral research focuses on how women economic migrants, primarily caregivers, engage in decision-making, identity construction, and adaptation in the context of informal labor, precarity, transience, and family separation. Additionally, she is a Research Assistant at SP2’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research, where she supports qualitative research projects on unconditional cash pilots.

Mira received a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science. After completing her undergraduate degree, she was named a LankaCorps Fellow with the Asia Foundation, through which she worked as a research assistant at a think tank in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She participated in research projects on post-war tourism development, state legitimacy, and gender and post-war economies. Mira has also served as a consultant on gender sensitive policymaking initiatives in Sri Lanka, a Senior Project Manager at a youth nonprofit in Toronto, Canada, and as a fundraising consultant for organizations working in social justice.