Aanya Niaz

image aanya

Senior Manager, Sustainability, Sovereignty and Societal Impact at Amazon Web Services

Currently based in: London, UK 

MSc Education (2016)

Talk to me about: Management consulting; Strategy consulting, International development; Education; Education advisory; Non-profits; Social impact; Programme and project management

Twitter: @aanyafniaz Instagram: @catchmeifyoucaanya

Aanya leads engagement with AWS customers in the public sector, especially the Middle East and Africa, to drive their businesses' sustainability and social responsibility transformations through the adoption of cloud.

She continues to serve as an advisor to a range of EdTechs and non-profits on improving education outcomes for marginalised and vulnerable populations, having previously served as an Education Advisor at Ernst & Young.

She has over a decade of experience as a practitioner and researcher in the education sector. Aanya’s work has focused on curriculum design, policy research & advice and teacher professional & leadership development. In 2018, she also began her career as a senior management consultant with EY, putting her in a unique position of being able to offer both deep education-sector knowledge as well as a comprehensive project leadership and management toolkit.  Her focus remains on improving low-income and marginalised realities by championing quality and innovative education solutions. Aanya currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Diyalo Foundation and is an Advisor to several non-profits and EdTech firms around the world with the primary focus of improving the teaching & learning environment with innovative-thinking at the centre.

She received her Master's in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford in 2017. Her research, exploring the role of mothers in influencing children's academic achievements in Pakistan, sought to elevate the stature of South Asian women in education literature, and shared evidence of how resource-scarce mothers innovate to engage with their children's learning.

Aanya was awarded a full scholarship to attend the University of Virginia, where she completed her Bachelor's degree with a double major in Foreign Affairs and Global Development Studies. Her dissertation exploring the politics of education in Pakistan was later published as a book “Education on the Horizon” in 2010. She was also the recipient of the Jefferson Public Citizens Grant and the Parents Committee Scholarship to work at the UN Headquarters, and held various leadership roles, including being the President of the Pakistan Student Org, Vice President of the Global Development Org, Resident Advisor & Intl. Projects Lead at the Women's Centre.

 

If you would like to be put in touch with Aanya, please contact Annabelle at development@stx.ox.ac.uk