Special Interest Group, Comparative and International Education Society
Meet Our Team
Who We Are
Kelsey Dalrymple
Co-Chair
Founder & CEO
Kelsey is an Education in Emergencies (EiE) practitioner with nearly 15 years of experience in education and humanitarian response across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. She is also an educational anthropologist and scholar of Comparative and International Education (CIE). Her research is rooted in the fields of CIE, EiE, critical refugee studies, and the anthropologies of education, childhood, development, and forced migration. She primarily utilizes qualitative, ethnographic, & critical research methodologies. Her research explores processes of knowledge production, structural violence, systemic inequities, and how marginalized & crisis-affected communities experience various educational paradigms (e.g. social emotional learning, trauma-informed programming, play-based learning, etc.). She is currently a Teaching Faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the department of Educational Policy Studies.
Han Seth Lu
Co-Chair
Tech Lead
Han Seth Lu is an educator, researcher, and advocate specializing in education in conflict, emergency, and fragile contexts, with a particular focus on displaced and marginalized communities in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. Han recently graduated from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where he concentrates on Global, International, and Comparative Education with an emphasis on refugee education. Han brings over a decade of experience designing inclusive learning environments in Southeast Asia, including founding an educational center in Myanmar. He has led digital education initiatives under authoritarian regimes and advocated for democratic reform through Students for Free Burma. Han’s work bridges grassroots innovation, policy engagement, and research to build resilient, equity-driven education systems.
Caroline Rakus-Wojciechowski
Secretariate
Office Manager
Caroline completed an M.A. from The George Washington University in 2023. Prior to this, she was involved in the United Nations Association of the USA, where she engaged with multiple institutions around youth empowerment, inclusion, and social justice through SDG4. During her M.A. she focused on refugee education initiatives, co-authoring the book Accessing Quality Education: Local and Global Perspectives from Refugees, which details the realities of refugee education inclusion in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia are. She currently works and an M&E Specialist for MapWorks Learner, where she continues to engage with refugee learners.
Yilin Wei
Awards Manager
Product Manager
Yilin Wei is an instructor and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota. Before returning to the USA in 2023, she used to be an educator and a school leader in K–12 international education in Asia. Her current research interests focus on interdisciplinary, intersectional, and conceptual studies and analysis of educational philosophies. Meanwhile, she also explores how those theoretical insights and lenses can guide and support her own pedagogical approaches and praxes.
Elnaz Safarha
Events Coordinator
Founder & CEO
Elnaz Safarha is a Ph.D. candidate in International Education Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. With over a decade of experience as a policy researcher in international education, she focuses on inclusive and refugee education at the intersection of disability, refugeehood, gender, and poverty. Drawing on a critical, community-based, and participatory approach, her current work explores how refugee-led education initiatives conceptualize and implement inclusive pedagogies. Elnaz brings a strong policy lens to her work, shaped by her experience leading and supporting education programs across more than 17 countries, including those in conflict-affected and emergency settings. She is committed to bridging research, practice, and policy to advance equity and inclusion in both formal and non-formal education systems.
Aishwarya Shetty
Advocacy Manager
Tech Lead
Aishwarya Shetty works towards enabling high-quality learning to children in displaced settings and underserved communities. At the Education Above All Foundation, she collaborates with local partners to pilot innovative and context-responsive solutions across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A former Teach For India Fellow with a Master’s in International Education Development from the University of Pennsylvania, Aishwarya is happiest in a classroom! She contributes to several global working groups, including those focused on MENA education and out-of-school youth. She sits on the Advisory Committees of HundrED, TeachAI, and Teach For All’s Emergency Relief Fund, which supports rapid funding for its crisis-affected partners. She also co-chairs INEE’s Centering Equity Reference Group, which advocates for decolonized, anti-racist approaches in EiE.
Stephanie Martinez
Communications Coordinator
Office Manager
Stephanie Martinez is a researcher and practitioner committed to enhancing education for youth affected by conflict and displacement. With over eight years of experience managing educational initiatives for refugee communities in Greece, Stephanie currently pursues her master's in International Educational Development at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines the intersection of trauma, learning, and resilience, specifically investigating how trauma informed education can support post-traumatic growth (PTG). Through practical engagement and academic inquiry, Stephanie aims to promote healing and strengthen educational outcomes for learners in emergencies and crisis settings.