Hema Letchamanan

Hema Letchamanan’s work focuses on expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities and on how universities can play a more sustained role in addressing educational inequality. She is the founder and project lead of Projek BacaBaca, a university-led literacy initiative that has supported more than 800 children from underserved communities while engaging university students as trained volunteers. She is also the founder of the Night School Project, which brings together university students, educators and community partners to strengthen teacher development and educational provision for refugee communities. Across both initiatives, she has focused on building longer-term education ecosystems that connect universities, students, schools, educators and communities. Her work explores how universities can combine student learning, research, partnerships and community engagement to create meaningful and sustained social impact.