Nisa Malli is a researcher, writer, and policy wonk who has built her career both inside and outside the public service. Currently, she leads Delivery Policy for the Canadian Digital Service, bringing 15+ years experience in public policy, applied research, program delivery, and service design.

Previously, she managed the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship’s Innovative and Inclusive Economy program, leading research on digital literacy/access, tech policy, and the tech sector. She was a City of Toronto Urban Fellow, helped start the Privy Council Office’s Impact and Innovation Unit, advised the Deputy Ministers’ Committee on Policy Innovation, and ran a library-based digital literacy program for seniors, newcomers, and job seekers.

As a policy advisor and patient-researcher on Long COVID, she has focused on the impacts on workers and the workforce and the service design of public health and government supports. This has.included roles as a member of the Long COVID Patient-Led Research Collaborative, Ontario Health’s Post-COVID-19 Condition Expert Panel, and the University of Toronto Rehabilitation Science Research Network for COVID’s Advisory Committee.

Her first book, Allodynia (Palimpsest Press, 2022), was long-listed for the Pat Lowther Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her chapbook, Remitting (Baseline Press, 2019) won the bpNichol Prize. She writes about Long COVID in her newsletter The Impairing Curse.

She holds an MA in Public and International Affairs from the University of Ottawa, researching digital government and security studies, and a BFA in Writing from the University of Victoria. 

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