Biography
Safina Hirji is a PhD candidate in Curriculum & Instruction/Research & Evaluation at Barry University in Miami, Florida. She has a master’s degree is in Educational Leadership and her undergraduate degrees are in Education, French and Political Science. She is a retired high school teacher and former curriculum consultant from Toronto, Canada. Recently, she presented research papers (2025 & 2026) at the Eastern Educational Research Association (EERA) Conference. Some of her research interests include Artificial Intelligence; curriculum and pedagogy; homeschooling; social-emotional learning; and neuroscience. She is interested in transcendental phenomenology as an epistemological and ontological approach to research. She is also the author of Mindful Meatball, a children's book to help kids navigate their emotional states.