Vanessa Ozawa

Vanessa is an Education Researcher at the International Rescue Committee UK, working primarily on the FCDO-funded Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) Programme. This research initiative focuses on promoting education in conflict- and crisis-affected settings and exploring the role of education in advancing equity, social cohesion, and sustainable peace. Within the programme, Vanessa collaborates closely with scholars from the UCL Institute of Education, one of ERICC’s consortium partners, on issues related to gender, inclusion, social justice, and peacebuilding. Her work particularly engages with the contexts of Cox’s Bazar, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Syria. Vanessa specialises in Central Asian contexts, with a particular focus on the role of education in shaping national identity through the intersectionality of ethnicity, gender, and religion, areas that were central to her doctoral research.