Dr. Sarju Sing Rai is an Assistant Professor in "Competencies Development for Societal Transformation through Public Engagement in Transdisciplinary Research and Education" with focus on the themes - Global Health, and Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3). He is a Global Health Pharmacist from Nepal, who is interested in research and education that focuses on transdisciplinary discourses for societal transformations.
He is member of the Broader mind – Community Service Learning (CSL) project of VU Amsterdam, wherein he is involved in teaching and designing transdisciplinary and transformative education with multistakeholder involvement to jointly address complex (global) health issues. He is also involved in local knowledge alliances with community-based organizations, citizen groups, and educational institutions operating within the city of Amsterdam, viz. Knowledge alliance - Loneliness & Mental Wellbeing, and Knowledge Alliance - Inclusive and accessible City. Within the Netherlands, he is involved in NRO's CONNECT project with other 10 Dutch Universities, where he is co-leading activities to elucidate design elements and develop framework(s) for Transdisciplinary Learning in Higher Education. Internationally, he is co-leading the AURORA European Universities Alliance project - workpackage focusing on Teaching and Learning for Societal Impact & Transformation. Further, in the EU - Shared Multimodal Mobility for all (SMALL) project, he represents/leads VU's contribution towards Co-creation-based theories and praxis on shaping shared mobility in Europe. He is also interested in connecting higher education institutions in global South and North to build essential global connectivity and competence among students from both these regions in an equitable way.
Sarju is involved in research on Education (competencies development through transdisciplinary education, critical service learning, internationalization and global citizenship) and Global Health topics (health-related stigma reduction and healing; intersectionality, health equity, social justice; loneliness and mental wellbeing; Inclusive living, access and mobility; and systemic transformations).
