Riya is currently a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores the inner lives and spirituality of ‘value-creating’ educators who practise 'human education', an educational philosophy with roots in the Mahayana tradition of Nichiren Buddhism. She earned her TESOL graduate degree from Soka University, Japan, where she examined arts-based learning, self-expression, and safe spaces in English language education in India. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), she currently serves as a co-chair of the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group (CPERG). Having been an arts-facilitator and lecturer at the undergraduate level, Riya endeavours to engage students in critical conversations on nuclear disarmament and restorative justice through her workshops. A published poet, Riya’s interests extend from hiking, singing and poetry, to rituals and traditions that surround death and grief. She remains committed to reimagining education as a deeply human and transformative experience, one that centres our capacity for wonder, wisdom, compassion and humanity.

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