Dena Arya is a Research Fellow (INSPIRE Project) at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and holds a PhD in Politics. Her doctoral research explored the role of intersectional inequalities in shaping youth environmental political participation. Having worked in the United Kingdom as a youth and community practitioner for over 15 years, her research interests in youth politics stem from the early days of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Since then, in her practice with young people, she has witnessed the complex ways that young people navigate the developing socio-economic pres sures and climate injustice they face through their politics. Her research interests, foregrounded by this experience, include intersectionality, the political economy of youth, climate justice, and arts-based participatory research methods.

The INSPIRE Project (funded by Horizon Europe) where she is a Research Fellow aims to strengthen intersectional inclusion within participatory deliberative processes with a focus on Legislative Theatre (LT).

Dena is a Research Associate at the Centre for Asican Studies in Africa at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Here she is a Co-Principal Investigator on the Theatre of Climate Action project funded by the SOAS Feminist Centre for Racial Justice. ToCA uses Youth Participatory Action Research to develop educational tools to reflect Global Majority youth experiences of climate injustice in South Africa and Guadeloupe.

Dena is co-convenor of the Political Studies Association (PSA) Young People’s Politics specialist group and a youth personal development coach.