Ghazala Azmat (1979 - 2025)

It is with immense sadness that the Department of Economics announces the death of Ghazala Azmat. Ghazala fought an aggressive disease with strength and determination, preserving her personal and professional life until the very end. This is an indescribable loss for the department and the economics profession as a whole.

Ghazala graduated with a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2006 and started her career at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and Queen Mary University London (QMUL), before joining the Science Po Department of Economics in 2016. 

She made central contributions to a diverse set of fields, spanning labour economics, economics of education, organisational economics and gender economics. What drove her was the passion for broad and essential questions. What drives inequalities in educational attainment of different racial groups? What is the role of aspirations in determining gender gaps in promotions? What guarantees the success of teams in the workplace?

This passion and talent led to wide recognition. Ghazala was awarded the highest honours of the profession. In 2020 she became a Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). She obtained a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant in 2022 for her project UNEQUALED. In 2023 she became director of the Organizational Economics Programme of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and editor of American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.  Everyone turned to Ghazala because of the rare gifts she combined, a passion for her job and a constant concern for rigor and fairness. She always made sure that processes and rules in organisations she contributed to were fair. 

One issue that was close to her heart was the role of women in the profession. She became chair of the European Economic Association (EEA) Standing Committee on Women in Economics in 2022, where she led numerous initiatives. She was and will remain a role model to many, in particular to young women starting in the profession.

The Department of Economics will miss Ghazala tremendously. She was an esteemed researcher and a great teacher and colleague, who deeply cared for the group with a special eye for its international members. We feel tremendous pain and we will strive to honour her memory as she deserves. Our thoughts go to Ghazala's family and in particular to her husband, Vicente, and children, Iliana and Adrien.

The EEA has published an announcement in memory of Ghazala which you may read here