Ian Mitchell

Ian Mitchell is a senior fellow and co-director of the Europe programme at the Center for Global Development. His research addresses the effectiveness of governments’ policies on international development and climate.

Mitchell leads CGD’s work on UK development policy and climate finance; and is responsible for the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) and the Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA) assessment. His research also covers international food security and the role of agriculture and trade policy. 

He has regularly provided evidence to UK Parliament; and his work has been widely cited in the media, including the BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times and the Washington Post.

Mitchell has previously been an associate at Chatham House, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Until 2016, he was an economist and senior civil servant in the UK government. At the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), he was Deputy Chief Economist and was responsible for economic analysis on EU, agricultural and environmental issues. Between 2014 and 2015, he chaired the Agricultural Markets Information System established by the G20 to mitigate global food commodity volatility. At DEFRA, Mitchell was also responsible for the UK’s economic analysis on food & resource security and animal disease risk.

Earlier in his career, Mitchell undertook economic analysis on education and social mobility at the UK Department for Education. He led the evaluation of higher education reform including the introduction of tuition fees and researched social mobility in the UK using both income and broader measures of well-being. Mitchell’s career began at Ernst and Young and has also included roles at HM Treasury and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.