Pollyanna Wardrop

Pollyanna is a Senior Researcher in inclusive finance and private sector practice for GDI Hub, consulting for banks and development banks. Her work is built on translating robust evidence into practical strategic and operational guidance that enables socially inclusive outcomes to emerge from commercial environments. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst Sustainable Investing certified, a Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner, PRINCE2 Foundation certified and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London.

Before joining GDI Hub, Pollyanna was a Senior Analyst at the Financial Services Culture Board, responsible for managing and conducting research and Board reporting on firms’ organisational cultures to help raise standards of behaviour and competence across the sector, for the benefits of customers, clients and society.

Her grounding is in social science, with an undergraduate degree in anthropology examining decision‑making drivers of investment bankers in London, followed by further study in the psychology of decision making and new directions in economics. She brings an eye for how people and institutions behave and why, strengthening her ability to create bespoke yet transformative solutions.

She served as a fellow and member of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Anthropology of Policy and Practice Committee from 2022 to 2024, and has been a speaker at the University College London Centre for Capitalism Studies on narratives of justice in development finance.