Maurice Sikenyi

Maurice Sikenyi is the Assistant Director of the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. Hailing from Kenya, he is a scholar of education, human development, and peacebuilding whose work examines policies to strengthen education systems in low- and middle-income countries; the role of education in conflict and social cohesion; and the drivers of integral human development.

In his role as Assistant Director, he leads the Ford Program’s strategic research agenda, advancing multidisciplinary research initiatives and cultivating mission-aligned research partnerships for Notre Dame faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and students in collaboration with scholars and institutions in the United States and the Global South. He also advances the program’s research impact in partnership with academics, policymakers, practitioners, and local communities.

Dr. Sikenyi’s current research focuses on education reform and policy transfer, school leadership and foundational learning, and community-based approaches to re-enrollment and learning recovery in contexts affected by armed conflict and inequality. He serves as Principal Investigator for the Kenya study within Graduating from Learning Poverty, a multi-country research initiative supported by the University of Notre Dame’s Poverty Initiative.

Before joining Notre Dame, he worked with governments and international organizations to support education reforms and literacy initiatives across Africa and Asia. He has been a Matasa Fellow with the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and a Fulbright Fellow with Syracuse University. Dr. Sikenyi holds a Ph.D. in Education and Development Studies from the University of Minnesota and an M.A. in Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.