Sara Pan Algarra

Research Discipline/Bio

Sara, Researcher and Policy Advisor, is a Doctoral Fellow pursuing a PhD in Comparative and International Education at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University. She is the 2024-25 editor-in-chief of the journal Current Issues in Comparative Education. Her PhD research centers on the intersection of climate mobility, internal displacement, disasters, and school abandonment among adolescent girls in Honduras. This work reflects her commitment to addressing pressing global issues through context-based academic inquiry and practical policy insights.

With a passion for advancing education policy and practice, Sara brings a wealth of interdisciplinary experience from her engagements in Switzerland, India, Italy, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom. She was a Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Scholar in 2021-22 and an International Fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in 2023-24.

Educational Background

Master of Philosophy (MPhil), Comparative and International Education, TC, Columbia University

Master of Arts (MA), Global Challenges: Law, Policy, & Practice, Swansea University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, 2022, Highest Honors (Distinction)

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Majors: Social Research & Public Policy; Theatre, Minor: Political Science, New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi, 2020, Summa Cum Laude

International Baccalaureate, The Mahindra United World College (UWC) of India, 2016

Honors/Awards

Doctoral Fellow, TC, 2022-25; Pre-dissertation Travel Grant, Institute of Latin American Studies, 2024; International Fellow, School of International & Public Affairs, 2023-24; George W. Perkins Memorial Scholarship Award, TC, 2023; Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Scholar, Swansea University, 2021-22; Finalist, Rhodes Scholarship, 2020; Female Athlete of the Year, Abu Dhabi Inter-University Sports League, 2018; Outstanding Impact Initiative, Clinton Global Initiative University, 2018

Publications/Exhibitions

Pan-Algarra, S. M. (2023). [Review of the book Navigating Precarity in Educational Contexts: Reflection, Pedagogy, and Activism for Change, edited by K. Monkman, A. Frkovich, & A. Proweller]. Comparative Education Review, 67(4), 918-920. https://doi.org/10.1086/726910

Gleason, N., & Pan-Algarra, S. (2022). Disruption & Public Policy Education across Asia: The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Climate Crisis & COVID-19. In S. Nair & N. Varma (Eds.), Emerging Pedagogies for Policy Education: Insights from Asia (pp. 15-38). Palgrave Macmillan

Last Updated: Mar 1, 2025