Academic Excellence

Coffee is often a student's best friend! Photo from India, where a participant put my barista skills to the test—skills they taught me.

I have completed a Double Major BA in Humanities (Children Studies - Now referred to as: Children, Childhood and Youth) and Sociology.

 During my Children Studies major, I critically learnt about children and youth concerns through the analysis of various theories and methods, social justice and legal frameworks, and media representations about family dynamics and young people's cultures historically and globally. 

Stopping to admire the Canadian Geese in Mississauga, before making my way to York University, Keele Campus

Through community partnerships with local schools across Toronto, Ontario (and neighbouring cities), we supported integration programs for recent immigrant and refugee children and youth. These placements were a thoroughly enriching experience in bridging academic and social justice endeavours.

A glimpse from Toronto while on the way to a child/youth-based community project. 

Critically learning about methods such as ethnography, journaling, and autobiography during my major in Sociology allowed me to deeply examine my lived history of colonization and the uprooting of my ancestors from South Asia to Guyana, South America, for indentured labour. 

A community three hours away from Georgetown, the Capital of Guyana, located in South America.

Likewise, during assignments, I analyzed how global labour reforms, such as the shift from slave labour to indentured labour, have impacted Guyana and other Caribbean regions to date.  

 Throughout my Bachelor’s, I pursued community development and social justice internships in Canada, Guyana and Nepal. 

Ranighat Palace, commonly know as Rani Mahal, located in the Palpa District of Nepal.

Most prominently, since 2010, I volunteered at a Himalayan boarding school in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, and across neighbouring districts, where I  became aware of several concerns affecting young people in the Himalayas and in the country. 

Between 2010 and 2019, I returned to Nepal annually to volunteer, teach, and participate in research and community development projects.

On some occasions, I assisted with coaching football teams for the nationwide annual competition, sponsored by Coca-Cola.

I graduated Cum Laude and as a member of the Dean's Honour Roll. 

 All my experiences during my  BA formed the foundation for my MA and Doctoral research. My BA experiences also shaped my professional working relationships, which are centred on collaborative community development, attention to human rights, and social justice principles.

Master of Arts (MA), York University, Canada

An artistic sketch with my uncanny resemblance!  Created by a youth participant during journaling activities in Nepal, 2015. 

 I completed my MA in Development Studies  (concentrations in Education Policy & Global Affairs) and a Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies. 

My Federally-funded  Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) thesis, From the Peaks and Back: Exploring the Educational Journeys of Trans-Himalayan Students in Kathmandu, Nepal, presented the lived experiences of 22 participants (ages 16-21) placed in a boarding school in Kathmandu by their family to avoid recruitment as child soldiers during a Civil War in Nepal (1996-2006).  

Students reunited with their families for the first time in over a decade later. 

Tuppatara, one of the world’s most remote villages, sits 5,000 metres/16,400 feet above sea level in Nepal’s Dolpa District. The Tibetan-influenced culture and breathtaking Himalayan landscape are breathtaking. 

My thesis found that return after long periods has to be deromanticized as predominantly ‘positive experiences’, since factors such as a loss of participants’ Himalayan languages or dialects; their age upon their first return; their disillusionment with rural livelihoods; and disasters like Nepal’s 2015 earthquake complicate processes of reunification—areas I have developed and taught about during multiple undergraduate courses, and published and presented on during several international events.

A focus group session with young people in Nepal 

While completing my MA, I also pursued Graduate Associateships at the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CERLAC);  York’s Centre for Asian Research (YCAR); and the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS).  I assisted the centres with developing infographics, data visualization, lecture series and policy brief ideas concerning key findings on global migration and development concerns. 

Lumbini, Nepal a UNESCO World Heritage site and a revered pilgrimage destination recognizing the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), the founder of Buddhism.  Many countries have constructed a temple in Lumbini where visitors can go to offer their prayers and take in the tranquillity of the area. 

 Throughout my MA, I assisted with teaching one course, and I was awarded five competitive internal and external awards and grants for research.

 My MA enabled me to critically and practically develop my expertise while collaborating with students, academics, artists, activists, and the general public to engage with intellectual thought across global communities.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Toronto, Canada

PhD convocation! :)

I hold a PhD in Geography and Planning, with specializations in Diaspora and Transnational Studies and South Asian Studies. 

My SSHRC-funded dissertation, Advancing Education-Work Dynamics and Life Course Transitions (LCTs) of Himalayan Young People through Participatory Action Research (PAR), exemplifies my ability to methodologically centre the participation of young people in research to navigate the intersecting—and sometimes inseparable—moments of education, work, and other important experiences throughout their lives.

Leadership development workshops with youth participants in international contexts

During my PhD, I worked with 307 participants. This comprised 122 international parents, social workers, educators, and politicians and 185 child and youth participants (ages 15-28): 142 from Nepal and 43 in Canada, the U.S., India, France and Qatar. 

The mixed methods I used were interviews, focus groups, (digital) journaling, photovoice, storytelling, multi-sited ethnography, archival research, GIS, surveys and questionnaires.

  I also worked with four Himalayan children and youth co-researchers to navigate the strengths, challenges, and emotions of collaborative PAR co-researching. 

While sitting on a step waiting for a meeting in Kathmandu, I was greeted by two curious friends! 

I lived in Nepal from 2017 to 2019 to complete fieldwork, where I served as a Volunteer Human Rights Specialist and Higher Education and Work Placement Coordinator for a local Nepali NGO, Volunteer Sewa (now closed, following its last successful project in 2020). I had policy discussions with international officials to advance safe spaces for Nepali youth migrating abroad. 

Transportation of essential goods across Mustang in the Himalayas (4,000-8,000+ metres/13,123-26,246 feet above sea level). 

An amazing experience, in addition to working with participants during fieldwork, was pursuing intensive Nepali language training and achieving a classical music certificate from Kathmandu University to become a certified sārangī player.

Unwinding after a long day of work, study and research with some sārangī practice. I can confidently say I will hit a wrong note or two, but the learning experience was priceless! 

During my doctorate, I published five peer-reviewed academic journal articles, two book chapters and two public-facing magazine and news articles. I am currently trying my hand at co-editing three Special Issues, which has been an amazing journey so far. 

Publishing and presenting is like rock-climbing, it can looks easy,  comes with it's hurdles, but with practice some actions become automatic. 

I have presented at over 10 international conferences—some of which I also helped organize, manage, and chair—delivered guest lectures and keynote talks, assisted in teaching multiple courses, and secured 18 competitive research awards and grants from both internal and external sources.

In the U.K  to co-chair for the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) 2024 Annual conference

My experiences during my doctorate are a testament to my ongoing commitment to working with people to ensure they are heard and represented in cross-cutting global academic, research, and societal spaces and sectors.