Dr M. P. Pradhan (1965) has been named Professor by Special Appointment of Project and Programme Evaluation for International Development in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The chair was designated on behalf of the Amsterdam Institute for International Development foundation, which is a cooperative initiative of VU University Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam. In his post as Professor by Special Appointment, Pradhan will perform teaching and research roles at both VU University Amsterdam and the UvA.

In his research, Menno Pradhan examines poverty and the effect of education and healthcare interventions in developing countries, thus serving to strengthen the capacity for evaluating policies and programmes in developing countries. Pradhan will also be lecturing in Development Economics at the Master's degree level.

Pradhan has spent the past seven years working for the World Bank in Indonesia as a Senior Economist in the department of Education and Poverty. Prior to that he worked at the Economic and Social Institute of VU University Amsterdam and as a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University in the USA. Pradhan earned his Doctorate degree in Economics from Tilburg University.