Ruchi Saini (she/her) received her Ph.D. in International Education Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park in Fall 2024. Ruchi’s doctoral research is an intersectional feminist narrative inquiry that investigates gender-based violence at a large public university in India. Her dissertation received an honorable mention for the 2025 Gaily P. Kelly Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award by the Comparative and International Education Society, USA. Her doctoral research was also supported by various internal and external awards, such as the NAED/Spencer dissertation fellowship, the Mariam Chamberlain Dissertation Award, and the Ann C Wylie dissertation fellowship.

In her current research project, Ruchi employs netnography [digital ethnography] in tandem with a case study approach to theorize how digital violence is understood and experienced by Asian International students at two public universities in the USA.

Ruchi also has an MA in English literature from St.Stephen’s College [University of Delhi, India] where she was a gold medalist, and a Master’s in Education from the University of Glasgow [Scotland], where she was the UK Government’s Chevening fellow. In her free time, Ruchi likes to watch documentaries, visit amusement parks with her toddler, and listen to Punjabi music.