About Aanya

Aanya Niaz is the Global Education Equity Leader at Amazon Web Services, where she spearheaded and now leads their $100 million commitment of technology to organizations building learning solutions for the underserved globally. She is also a leading voice on equitable AI design and adoption, while pursuing her PhD at the University of Cambridge on how AI shapes human flourishing in global majority contexts. She is also the founder of The Maple Group, an informal network of 170+ education leaders from 30+ countries bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners, globally.

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In 2025, she was nominated for AfroTech’s 50 Influencers in Tech for her influence at the intersection of AI, ethics, and equity. She has been featured on BAM Radio in a segment titled “How a New Genre of Creative Collaborations is Closing the Education Divide,” and Carvd N Stone published a spotlight on her leadership and innovation journey.

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Her work is grounded in a philosophical commitment to justice and human dignity. She has led projects across continents, most notably, developing Pakistan’s first national English curriculum for young learners, contributing to OECD policy on international cooperation, teaching in New York with Teach for America and South Africa with Raise the Children, and advising USAID.

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Aanya also serves as a Board Trustee with the UK’s International Education Development Forum (UKFIET) and as an Advisory Member on AI skills at the Humans in the Loop Foundation. She received her MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford, and her double-major BA in Global Development and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia.