Imaan Maftah is a researcher and policy analyst whose work sits at the nexus of AI accountability, urban governance, and questions of distributional justice. She has held senior roles in user-experience and mixed-methods research, including serving as a Senior UX Researcher at Shopify.
She recently completed her Master of Public Administration at Columbia University, where she was a research fellow with Communities Speak, conducting survey design and analysis to better understand New Yorkers experiences with childcare access, food insecurity, public safety, and other everyday challenges across New York City.
As a Graduate Consultant at the New York State Legislature, Imaan collaborated on a comprehensive study of the state’s childcare workforce crisis, culminating in a proposal for a permanent supplemental workforce fund to enhance wages, stabilize retention, and increase access to high-quality childcare across New York.
Across her work, Imaan applies a critical, human-centered approach to examining how technology and public institutions organize everyday life. She is motivated by research that elevates underrepresented voices and advances more just and accountable policy frameworks.