Clare Leaver is a Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and Fellow of University College. Prior to this, she was a University Lecturer in Economics in the Department of Economics at Oxford and Fellow of The Queen's College. Clare completed her PhD studies at the University of Bristol, and remains an associate member of Bristol's Centre for Public and Market Organisation.

She moved to the University of Oxford to take up a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2003, and was appointed to a University Lectureship in 2007. She is also the director of the Service Delivery Programme at the Oxford Institute for Global Economic Development.

Much of Clare's research focuses on careers and incentives within the public sector. In previous research, she has studied Public Utility Commissioners in the United States, and the Senior Judiciary in England and Wales. In current work, she is examining the effectiveness of alternative approaches to service delivery in fragile settings, focusing on how best to incorporate contributions from non-state providers while allowing the state to retain and strengthen its stewardship.