GERE core team
The GERE core team are involved across all elements of the GERE initiative, including the research studies and training programme. The core team is based in the UK, Pakistan and Rwanda.
Amy Ashlee
Amy is a Research Manager with Refugee Education (REUK) and manages REUK’s refugee education research across the UK and around the world. Amy specialises in child-centred and qualitative research methods. Prior to joining REUK, Amy worked in research, policy and advocacy for INGOs and has carried out research on children’s rights in a number of contexts, including in Kenya, South Sudan, India and Cambodia. She holds an MA in International Child Studies from King’s College London.
Sediqa Bakhtiari
Sediqa is a Research Assistant at Refugee Education UK (REUK). She has experience of doing research for international NGOs and government departments in Afghanistan before the fall of Kabul. Sediqa is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Tehran. Her research background has focused on migration, gender, ethnicity and political sociology.
Katrina Barnes
Katrina is a Research Manager with Jigsaw, with a background in language education. She holds a MEd in Research in Second Language Education from the University of Cambridge and a MA in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Westminster. Her recent work has focused on participatory methods within refugee education research, the role of EdTech in displacement and development contexts, and minoritised language use within education in LMICs. An experienced teacher, Katrina has a particular interest in pedagogy, curriculum design, and education for social and environmental justice.
Rebecca Daltry
Rebecca is a Research Manager with Jigsaw, whose current work focuses on refugee education and education technology in LMICs. She has experience conducting large-scale mixed-method and qualitative research, with a particular focus on developing participatory and youth-led initiatives with schools and communities. She holds an MA in International Education and Development from the University of Sussex, where she formed a particular research interest in the intersections between faith, development and education, as well as topics related to gender, youth, conflict and citizenship.
Aime Parfait Emerusenge
Aime Parfait is a Research Assistant with Jigsaw and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Southern New Hampshire University. Before joining Jigsaw, he participated in a research project on History Dialogues at Princeton University and co-authored an anthology entitled “The Right to Research”. He also has experience in the Development Cooperation sector, where he worked with KFW Development Bank. He has worked as a Youth Researcher on Voices of Refugee Youth, a research project exploring refugee post-primary education implemented in Rwanda and Pakistan. He is particularly interested in education for refugees, education technology, and education, climate and environment.
Gentille Gasanabandi
Gentille is a Research Assistant with Jigsaw where her main focus is on education technology research and with a particular interest in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. She has a background in IT and as a refugee herself she is determined to use technology to improve the education experiences of refugee girls. She has worked as a Youth Researcher for Voices of Refugee Youth, a project exploring the impact of post-primary education in emergencies. She has experience of data collection, data analysis and writing up findings.
Catherine Gladwell
Catherine is REUK's founding Chief Executive. Sha has specialised in education and forced migration for the last fifteen years. She is an expert in participatory methods and child and young person-centred evaluation and research. Her evaluation and research work at Jigsaw is complemented by her ongoing work as Director of Refugee Education UK, the London-based refugee youth education NGO she founded in 2009. Catherine’s involvement with the Voices of Refugee Youth project focuses on developing the research methods training and accreditation, and she co-facilitates the training of Youth Researchers in Rwanda.
Jessica Hinks
Jessica is a Researcher with Jigsaw, with a background in development research. She holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Edinburgh. It was during this time that she formed a particular interest in education research, as well as conflict and forced migration. Jessica has experience conducting desk-based qualitative research, with a focus on education for marginalised learners and education technology. In addition, she has worked with children and young people in a variety of education settings.
David Hollow
David is a founder and Director of Jigsaw. He has completed complex research studies and evaluations in over twenty countries with a variety of donors, governments, INGOs and community-based organisations. He is committed to helping organisations utilise the power of research and evaluation to enhance development outcomes. David holds a PhD (2010) in development geography from the University of London. His doctoral research focused on evaluating the impact of ICT on education in sub-Saharan Africa. David brings his technical expertise to the Voices of Refugee Youth project alongside the Jigsaw team and co-facilitates training of Youth Researchers in Pakistan.
Divya Jose
Divya provides research and advocacy support on REUK’s research projects. Her research interests lie in forced migration, women and children in conflict and restorative justice. Before joining REU, she worked in research and advocacy at an anti-human trafficking organisation, working with the government to strengthen the policy response against human trafficking in India. She specialises in qualitative research practices and social policy, and has conducted research on victim-centric criminal justice reforms and contributed to a comprehensive legislation against trafficking in persons in India. She holds a masters degree in PUblic Policy and Governance from Tata Institute of SOcial Sciences and a postgraduate diploma in International Humanitarian Law from NALSAR University of Law.
Kara Melville-Bain
Kara is a specialist Operations Manager with over 15 years’ experience across a variety of sectors. She leads Jigsaw’s operations work streams with particular responsibility for finance and personnel. She uses her extensive experience to support the team in the systematisation of processes and procedures to improve performance, productivity and efficiency. In addition to this, she provides administrative support on client projects.
Aimée Mukankusi
Aimée is a Research Assistant with Jigsaw. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Management with a concentration in Global Perspectives from Southern New Hampshire University. Before joining Jigsaw, she worked at the Community-based Sociotherapy Adapted for Refugees (COSTAR) initiative in partnership with the University of Rwanda, which focused on the mental health and wellbeing of refugees in Gihembe camp. She then worked as a Youth Researcher on Voices of Refugee Youth, a project which explored the impacts of post-primary education on refugees in Kiziba camp. She has also worked as a research intern at the City University of New York, where she studied the impacts of higher education on refugees, again in Kiziba. She is not only interested in education for refugees, but also in addressing key issues in the education sector more broadly.
Julia Pacitto
Julia is an experienced Research Manager with Jigsaw. She has extensive experience conducting applied, academic and policy-focused research on topics related to refugee education and education for marginalised learners, as well as wider issues in forced migration. She holds a DPhil in International Development and an MSc in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Oxford. Julia specialises in qualitative research and since joining Jigsaw has led on both qualitative and mixed methods research and evaluation projects focused on refugees’ and girls’ education.
Asma Rabi
Asma is working as a Research Assistant with Jigsaw. She has a bachelor's degree in Media Studies and Mass Communication. She is currently studying for her masters degree in Development Studies. Asma has previous experience working with different international research think tanks and organisations including GIZ, World Food Programme and ODI. She has a particular interest in women's rights and child protection.
Hiruy Teka
Hiruy is a Research Adviser with Jigsaw, specialising in helping organisations to define and operationalise their strategies to deliver improved educational outcomes in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Prior to joining Jigsaw, Hiruy worked for a wide variety of INGOs designing and delivering education programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. Hiruy has an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS, University of London (2011).
Matt Thomas
Matt is a Founder and Director of Jigsaw, an education research organisation and social enterprise based in London. He is an experienced project manager, strategist and evaluator, and has implemented projects and undertaken research and evaluation in over 25 countries. He is committed to helping organisations use evidence to bring about lasting change in education, and his strategic planning expertise and experience of change management enables him to provide direction to organisations at key moments of transition and development.
Noor Ullah
Noor Ullah is a Research Assistant at Jigsaw, where he has co-authored and contributed to various research papers and journal articles. His research interests revolve around data analysis, evidence-building in refugee education, and the effective use of technology in educational contexts. Before joining Jigsaw, Noor Ullah has worked on various IT and education projects, particularly focusing on empowering refugee students through different platforms. He holds a Master's degree in Data Science from the Institute of Management Science in Pakistan.
Rozina Zazai
Rozina is a Research Assistant at Jigsaw. She holds a degree in Computer Science from IMSciences, Pakistan, supported by a DAFI scholarship. She also completed the one year online MIT ReACT program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Born and raised in Pakistan, Rozina is an Afghan refugee and has raised the voices of refugee youth during her work with Jigsaw as a Youth Researcher. This work included spending two years conducting surveys and interviews with Afghan refugees and submitting data for analysis. Rozina has been voluntarily tutoring K-12 students in STEM and other subjects since 2015. She is fluent in English, Urdu and Pashto with a basic understanding of Dari. She is particularly interested in refugee education, education technology in LMICs and the cause of climate change over education.
