Position/Status

Research Associate

E-mail Address

ln369@cam.ac.uk

Phone

+ 44 (0)1223

Qualifications

• MSc in Development Management (London School of Economics and Political Science)
• PhD in Education (Institute of Education, University College London)

Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations

• Member: Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
• Member: The Maple Advisory Group
• Member: British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS)
• Member: British Association for in International and Comparative Education (BAICE)
• Advisory Board: LUMS LPRI Society

Profile

Dr Laraib Niaz is a post doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge where she works on the independent evaluation of the Girls Education Challenge. She has been an education consultant at the World Bank and has a PhD from Institute of Education, University College London where she looked at the role of religion in classrooms in Pakistan.

I have previously participated in multiple inclusion-focused research projects and worked with a range of organisations (IGOs, Academic institutions and NGOs). My current work with the Faculty of Education requires the impact evaluation of 41 GEC II projects that were implemented in 17 countries to see how they supported girls with disabilities.

I also have extensive experience in supervising students, and I have been a part of the teaching faculty at LUMS and University College London.

Academic Area/Links

• Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER)
• REAL Centre: Research for Equitable Access and Learning

Research Topics

• Inclusive Education
• Disability, Gender and Development
• Construction of ‘Self’ and ‘other’
• National Identity Construction
• Decolonising research practices

Current Research Project(s)

• Evaluation of the Girls Education Challenge Fund II: Disability project
• TASO Evaluation Support for interventions on Disability- LSE-UOC.

Principal and Recent Publications

Niaz, L; Chaudhary, C.H; Anand, K. (2023). Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling: Lessons from Pakistan. In Rethinking Education in the Context of Post-Pandemic South Asia: Challenges and Possibilities. Routledge.

Niaz, L. (accepted): (2023), Pandemics, Media and Religion: Engendering the Narrative of the ‘other’ in Media Narratives During the Corona Pandemic: The Asian Experience Currently in publication. Routledge India.

Niaz, L.; Anand, K.; Panjwani, F.; Lall, M. (2023). Religion and the construction of National Identity through Textbooks. In Bloomsbury Handbook of Schools and Religion.

Niaz, L. (2022). God in the Classroom: Exploring the Role of Religion in Five Case Study Schools in Lahore. PhD Thesis.

Niaz, L.; Anand, K. (2021). University Spaces as Agents of National Belonging: Analysing the Hidden Curriculum of Public Universities’ Campuses in India and Pakistan. Educ. Sci, 11.

Anand, K., & Niaz, L. (2022). The Precarious State of Academic Freedom in Higher Education: The Case of India and Pakistan. In Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR). BRILL. Volume 32.

Jamil, B. R., & Niaz, L. (2020). Teaching Religion in Schools: Practices and Impact in South Asian Countries. In Quality Education vs Fanatic Literacy. CSJ.

Anand, K., & Niaz, L. (2020). Why Growing Pseudoscience in India and Pakistan is a Concern. Daily O blog Post.

Niaz, L. (2020). Competing Narratives of History: The Curious Case of Akbar and Aurangzeb. UKFIET Blog Post.