Hogai Aryoubi

• PhD candidate in Peace Education, University of Cambridge
• Associate, Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group
• Deputy Editor, Cambridge Open-Review Educational Research e-Journal
• President, University of Cambridge Afghan Society
• Fulbright Scholar
• Corps Member, Teach for America
• Fellow, American Association of University Women
• Policy Fellow, Leadership for Educational Equity

The context of my research is the conflict-affected setting of Afghanistan, where I was born. In Kabul, many communities are divided by ethnicity and religious sects. My work in peace education addresses these divisions by focusing on the national education curriculum. The possibility of positive changes for students in Afghanistan in their national curriculum keeps me going through the good and bad moments of my peace education related work.

I started my work in the peace education field after a Fulbright position in Turkey in 2015. I was able to better understand the impact of conflict and political tension on education. Prior to the Fulbright placement, I was a classroom teacher in the United States. Understanding the immense issues of education in conflict-affected settings pushed me to work in peace education.

The most noteworthy moment in my peace education related work was a research assistantship at the Afghanistan Ministry of Education. I was able to work on education-based issues in rural areas of Afghanistan with a senior advisor at the ministry, which was enlightening. The work allowed me to understand the scope of the education issues in Afghanistan.