Bio

Rwaida is a PhD student in Environment and Resources at Stanford’s School of Sustainability. Her research focuses on the international policy frameworks shaping climate adaptation and mobility, with an emphasis on environmental justice for displaced communities, rural populations, and women and girls. She examines how global institutions respond to climate vulnerability—and how they can better support frontline communities.

Her current work spans climate displacement and adaptation efforts in the Global South, grounded in field research across East Africa and Central America, but also here at home in California where she researches the social impacts of wildfire recovery. She examines how narrative structures, legal categorization, and financial allocations can influence how climate risks and resilience are interpreted within policy and institutional settings.

She brings over 15 years of experience in international development and humanitarian policy, including advisory roles with the World Bank Group, USAID, and UNDP, and an appointment in the Obama Administration, where she helped design the White House’ clean energy initiative, Power Africa. Currently, she supports adaptation finance research at Stanford's Sustainable Finance Institute as well as the Graduate School of Business’s Ecopreneurship Program.