Board Members
Dr. Romina Quezada, Co-Chair
Romina Quezada Morales, from Mexico, researches the participation of Indigenous peoples in education. Her lines of work are public diplomacy toward Indigenous peoples, Indigenous peoples in global education, and human rights in Indigenous education. Over the past few years, Romina has been the rapporteur of the Indigenous Studies Seminar and the teaching assistant of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights MOOC, and she currently assists the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights program at Columbia University. Romina’s regional focus in recent years has been Latin America; she also specialises in North East Asia. Romina has written reports for international NGOs and reviewed Indigenous knowledge papers for publishing houses like Routledge. Romina holds a Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
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Dr. Manuel López Delgado, Co-Chair
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Manuel Lopez Delgado is the first indigenous person in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, to obtain a doctoral degree and is currently one of the few indigenous doctors in Mexico. He was born in the Tarahumara Region and belongs to the Raramuri People. He is a Research Professor at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, where, besides his research and lecturing activities created in collaboration with other professors, the Comisión de Apoyo para Estudiantes Indígenas de la UACJ (Committee of Support for Indigenous Students at the UACJ). In 2017, he was selected by the U.S. State Department to represent Mexico in the U.S. Culture and Society programme at New York University. His participation in promoting the right to education for indigenous peoples led him to the United Nations as the 2018 Senior Indigenous Fellow of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. This allowed him to know the instruments and mechanisms available for Indigenous Peoples at the international level to present their problems and issues. He has participated in the Expert Mechanism of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, and other international events for indigenous peoples organized by the United Nations. Another way of involvement in the indigenous people’s rights has been through the academic work of publication, participation in conferences and educational events where he talks about the realities indigenous peoples face. He is a research professor at the Humanities Department of the Institute of Social Sciences and Administration at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
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Preeti Koli, Treasurer/Communications Officer
Preeti is a final year PhD candidate at the School of Education Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India. Preeti is the first Dalit woman from her community to pursue a Ph.D. Her dissertation, "Identity, Agency & Activism: A Narrative Inquiry Of Dalit Women Activists' Experiences in Higher Education in India", brings together the narratives of Dalit Women activists' experiences in higher education from a Dalit Feminist perspective, which have been least explored in scholarly literature. This research examines the aspect of agency in the lives of Dalit women because Dalit women are always portrayed as the victims of power structures. Apart from this, her research interests more broadly include issues related to intersectionality, caste, gender, education and higher education in the everyday lives of Dalits. Preeti has written quite a lot on Dalit women for anti-caste platforms in India like Velivada, Decenter Magazine and she identifies herself as a Dalit Feminist. She has also published book reviews for international journals like J Caste.
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Naomi Filmore, Secretary
Naomi Fillmore is an applied linguist and an education specialist currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Queensland School of Languages and Cultures. Her research focuses on linguistically sustaining education policy and pedagogies for multilingual children in diverse early educational settings. Her wider research interests include Indigenous education and research methodologies; language policy and planning; early language and literacy; early childhood education and care; and Indigenous language revitalisation through education.
Naomi’s research is informed by her professional experiences working with government and non-government organisations. This includes working with state government to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and cultures in public school systems, developing bilingual resources and delivering teacher training in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for a national foundation, advising the federal government body in Nepal responsible for multilingual education and policy, managing large international development-funded projects in Indonesia and across the Asia-Pacific region, and teaching English as an additional language to children and adults in Australia and South America.
As a non-Indigenous descendent of settlers, Naomi acknowledges the invaluable teachings of Indigenous and language-minoritised mentors, colleagues, and friends, that she has benefited from over many years. These teachings have shaped her development as a researcher and practitioner; and have reinforced her commitment to co-designing contextualised educational programs and research that promote culturally and linguistically sustaining learning experiences for all children.
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