Biography:
Mayumi is a Gates Cambridge scholar and PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Geography from McGill University and a MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. Her PhD research interests focus on environmental justice and land defenders, transnational solidarities, and social and gendered consequences of climate crises. Between and during her degrees, she has worked in fields of reforestation and gender, anti-racism, river delta governance, educational equity, decarceration, and global environmental justice. She has several years of experience working with land defenders and climate-impacted communities across multiple continents, and has worked on State-level and intergovernmental climate policies and safeguards on reforestation, illegal logging, Indigenous land stewardship, and gender equity. She is passionate in justice-oriented, public-facing, and collaborative research and community projects using participatory action research.
Outside of her PhD, Mayumi is passionate about education, racial, social, and climate justice, and is currently a National Geographic Explorer. She is also the Founder and Executive Director at SustainED, an organization widening higher education access and creating opportunities for community organizing and research in marginalized communities. She also advises on issues related to gender and climate change and migration, as well as improving women's access to sports and healthy living in Asia for UN Women 30 for 2030 network.
