Vatsal is the Peter J. Braam Junior Research Fellow in Global Wellbeing at Merton College. He studies social networks to address challenges in development economics. He recently completed the requirements of his DPhil in Economics degree at the University of Oxford and received the MSc in Economics for Development prior to that. He has also previously worked as a research assistant at the Blavatnik School of Government and as a research consultant at J-PAL, India.