Equity and Inclusion in Education

Grisana Punpeng

Assistant Professor

Chulalongkorn University

Assistant Professor Grisana Punpeng, PhD, is a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, and currently Chairperson of the BA Communication Management and MA Strategic Communication Management International Programs. Also a theatre practitioner and actor trainer, he received his PhD in Drama (Actor Training) from University of Exeter, United Kingdom and MA in Cultural Management from Chulalongkorn University. As a researcher, he specializes in intercultural theatre and performance training, creativity development and learning design, and the creative industries and creative cities in ASEAN. Recently, he conducted research on the gaming industry in Thailand for Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency, and the creative city enablers in Buriram province for UNESCO.

Kraiyos Patrawart

Managing Director

Equitable Education Fund (EEF)

Dr. Kraiyos Patrawart is a Managing Director at the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), an independently-managed public fund for equitable education and human development in Thailand. Annually, mobilizing both public and privately-raised funds, EEF supports conditional cash transfer to over 1.3 million compulsory school age children from underprivileged household across Thailand to prevent dropout and provide scholarship for thousands of resilient students through college and vocational degrees. EEF also develops innovative research and technology that lead to solutions for equitable education and human development in Thailand at local and national levels.

Dr. Kraiyos Patrawart is the Managing Director at the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), an independently-managed public fund for equitable education and human development in Thailand. Annually, EEF mobilizes both public and privately-raised funds to prevent school dropouts and to provide scholarships for thousands of resilient underprivileged students. One of EEF’s flagship program involves conditional cash transfers to over 1.3 million compulsory school age children from underprivileged household across Thailand. In addition, EEF develops innovative research and technology that lead to solutions for equitable education and human development in Thailand at local and national levels.

Since 2020, Kraiyos has been appointed by the Royal Thai Government as a member of the Thailand’s national education reform committee to oversee the national education reform plan and makes policy recommendations to the Royal Thai Government in multiple education reform areas. Between 2017-2019, Kraiyos was also a member of the Independent Committee on Education Reform (ICER) appointed by the Royal Thai Government. He had helped drafting a number of key education reform legislations as authorized by the 2017 constitution of Thailand.

Kraiyos obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of London and his MSc in Economics at the University of Warwick. Prior to his appointment as EEF’s Managing Director, he was a Deputy Managing Director and Director of Research Institute at EEF. His previous positions include Assistant Managing Director on policy and research at the Quality Learning Foundation, Research Fellow at Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science and Teaching Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London

Leonie Nagarajan

Co-Founder

EQator

Leonie Nagarajan is an expert in Education Diplomacy, EdTech and Sustainability. Based in Singapore, she is the Co-founder of EQator, an ideation-to-execution consultancy that works at the intersection of education, technology and climate change.

As the former Director of the Education Department at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), she led large scale cross-continental programmes across 51 countries in Asia and Europe on education policies, higher & secondary education cooperation, lifelong learning as well as youth leadership. Complementing her work in international education, she serves as an Ministry of Education-appointed Advisory Board Member at a public Primary School in Singapore, driving local initiatives in the field of inclusion, mental health & well-being as well as environmental education with several Parents Support Groups.

Leonie received her Master’s degree in Communication Sciences from the Free University in Berlin, with minors in Cultural and Political Sciences.

Ilja Riekki

Project Officer

UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education

Ilja Riekki serves at UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, at Educational Innovation and Skills Development (EISD) unit, working on projects on enhancing equitable education and access to education as a member of Literacy and Lifelong Learning team. Prior to United Nations, Ilja Riekki held a position as head of innovation and partnerships at Aalto Ventures Program, the entrepreneurship program of Aalto University, the leading innovation university of Finland. He has also worked consulting in Shanghai and in education startup in Finland catering Chinese market. He holds a Master`s degree in education and has studied economics Lingnan College, Sun Yat-Sen University, China and done visiting studies Yonsei University, South Korea and School of Transnational Governance at European University Institute in Italy.

Tirnud (Meg) Paichayontvijit

Assistant professor

Ramkhamhaeng University

Dr. Tirnud (Meg) Paichayontvijit is an economics lecturer and researcher with a passion for exploring innovative financing mechanisms that can drive social impact. With a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Auckland, Dr. Tirnud has spent the last decade teaching and researching at academic institutions around the world.

Dr.Tirnud's primary area of expertise is experimental economics, where she conducts research that involves designing and running controlled laboratory experiments to better understand economic behavior. Her research has explored a wide range of topics, including decision-making under risk and uncertainty, and the impact of social norms and institutions on economic outcomes.

In addition to her work in experimental economics, Dr. Tirnud is passionate about the education and role of innovative financing mechanisms in driving social impact. She has worked on several research projects exploring the potential of impact investment funds, social impact bonds, and other innovative financing mechanisms to support social enterprises and other organizations working to address pressing social challenges.

Linda Yeh

Assistant Professor

Thammasat university

Linda Yeh is currently working as a lecturer at the Faculty of Learning Sciences and Education, Thammasat university. Thailand. She has a Ph.D. in education and M.Ed. in special education from Australia. Prior to her career as a university professor, she worked as a kindergarten teacher in which her interest in special and gifted education ignited.

Her areas of expertise include inclusive education, gifted education and talent development, individual differences, curriculum differentiation for diverse learners, higher order thinking skills, and learning design and facilitation. Her research projects are multidisciplinary, examining social phenomena through diverse perspectives. Examples of completed and current projects are equitable society for minority populations, teacher professional development based on ecological perspectives on learning and education, and the application of experiential learning to create learning participation and reflection.

Aarti Saihjee

Chief of Education

UNICEF Thailand

Aarti Saihjee is the Chief of Education in UNICEF Thailand since 2020 and is responsible for programmes focused on early childhood development and education with an enhanced focus on equity, well-being, and learning.

She is an Indian national and has worked with UNICEF for nearly two decades in the education sector in multiple countries, including extended stints in Ghana, India, and New York previously. Her experience straddles leading outcomes-based education programming, evidence-informed policy advocacy, and facilitating strategic partnerships for enabling equitable, inclusive, and gender transformative education polices and service delivery across varied development contexts.

Prior to joining UNICEF, Aarti worked in academia in the United States in the field of social sciences and gender studies and as a research and evaluation consultant in India, supporting non-governmental organizations and multilateral institutions in the areas of education, gender and equity, and local development.

She is an alum of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University and Miranda House College, Delhi University, and holds a PhD/MA in Development Anthropology and a Masters’ in Public Administration from the former.

Bunnawoot Bhuntuvech

Chief Executive Officer

EdusoftX

As the CEO of EdusoftX and ITedusoft, an Educational Technology distributor and a Language Learning Solution Provider, I seek chances to combine my enthusiasm for learning and technology to impact the lives of individuals through education in the hopes of expanding Thailand's educational equity. I believe that via the close integration of individualized solutions, as well as enthusiastic teachers, we can solve Thailand's immense social requirements, particularly in the areas of technical literacy and English language acquisition.