Hiya Harinandini is a Policy Researcher at the Australia India Institute, where she focuses on bilateral policy and practice relating to education, skilling, and sustainable employment. Her research interests include migration policy, skill underutilisation and its implications for migrant and refugee settlement. She is particularly interested in exploring how policy decisions and support services across the education and employment sectors can be better mobilised towards achieving equitable outcomes for systemically disadvantaged communities in Australia.
Previously, Hiya was a Fellow with the Future of Work Lab where she worked across a range of projects focused on improving employment outcomes and experiences for caregivers and migrants in Australia. Her role at Learning4Development, a social impact consultancy involved conducting critical research and secondary reviews of various multilateral organisations for a government client, across a range of performance criteria including human rights advocacy, gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) and humanitarian aid and development. Hiya has also conducted research and policy analysis around the Right to Education Act of India in the context of school systems and with a focus on its interaction with existing structures of systemic inequality.