Rana Hendy is an assistant professor of economics and public policy and the Program Director of the Master in Public Policy Program at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo. Hendy is also a research fellow at the Economic Research Forum in Cairo where she used to serve as the thematic director for equity and Gender thematic projects between 2012 and 2015. Hendy received her doctorate in labor and development economics from the Paris School of Economics in 2011.

Hendy researches labor and demographic policies in developing countries with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Her current work focuses on the post COVID challenges for female employment in the Arab economies, gender inequality, inequality of opportunity in education, labor markets, family formation and international migration, as well as the impact of trade and fiscal policies on inequality and poverty.

She has a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals such as Demographic Research, Applied Economics, International Journal of Educational Development and the Journal of North African Studies. She also contributed to four Oxford University Press volumes on labor markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.