Kyra Araneta (she/her) is a Lecturer in Student Partnership and Social Justice in the Centre for Education (CETI) and Teaching Innovation at the University of Westminster. Prior to her role in the CETI, she completed an MA in International Relations whilst working as the Student Partnership Coordinator on the Pedagogies for Social Justice Project (PSJ). As a continuation of this work in her new appointment, Kyra hosts the PSJ podcast, co-creates with students, and contributes to the field through publications and keynote addresses. Her research foci and interests include critical race and decolonial pedagogies, social justice education, intersectionality, and the role of student-staff partnerships in fostering ethical learning environments. She has been successful in several funding applications including for Quintin Hogg Trust and the Centre for Social Justice Research. She will co-chair the first international Students as Partners Roundtable conference in the UK in 2025.
Kyra works on the Pedagogies for Social Justice project, a student : staff partnership project committed to centring student and minoritised voices in our values, beliefs and experiences and to using these to dismantle contemporary forms of coloniality in curricula, relationships and research. The project team and steering group co-create tools for teaching and research such as a podcast, reading lists, glossary and study group. She has hosted events, such as a Festival of Decolonial Learning, research meetings with other universities (UK and international) and other public engagement activities. https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/psj/