Biography
Dr Nikita Hari is Head of the Teaching, Research Design and Support Group in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford.
She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) and an inaugural Google Higher Education Faculty AI Fellow, recognised for her leadership in engineering education, pedagogical innovation, and the responsible integration of AI in higher education.
Dr Hari is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Centre for Engineering Education, University College London (UCL), Co-Chair of the Complex Systems Initiative at the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC), Co-Lead of the UK Young Academy Science and Technology Diplomacy Project, and Visiting Professor in Engineering Education Innovation at SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), India.
A multi-award-winning engineer and educator, she has been featured in Engineers Making a Difference by Imperial College London (2022), recognised among the Top 50 Women in Engineering in the UK (2017), and listed as a Clinton Global Initiative Changemaker (2018).
Dr Hari holds a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and was awarded the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford.
Alongside her academic leadership, she has held senior innovation and enterprise roles across higher education, start-ups, and industry, including as Innovation and Enterprise Lead at the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. She is co-founder and COO of two AI education technology ventures and has delivered 100+ invited keynote lectures and talks internationally.
Her current work explores how engineering education can evolve in response to complex global challenges and AI-augmented futures, with particular emphasis on systems thinking, authentic learning, sustainability, industry-academia collaboration and equitable educational transformation.
Selected Awards and Recognition
- Inaugural Google Higher Education Faculty AI Fellow
- Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA)
- Featured in Engineers Making a Difference Book (Imperial College London & Gatsby Foundation)
- Top 50 Women in Engineering in the UK (Women's Engineering Society-WES)
- Clinton Global Initiative Changemaker
- Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellow
- UCL Global Engagement Fund
Public Engagement and Impact:
- 60+ keynotes and 100+ global outreach talks to date, addressing c. 120k people in total and mentoring 100+ students across the globe.
- TEDx speaker for University of Cambridge (2018), notably delivered ‘AI: Making or Breaking Education’.
Research Interests
My research interests and skills have involved in the years to become more multi and inter-disciplinary in nature branching into Engineering Practice, Policy and Pedagogy.
Current research interests are multi-disciplinary spanning technical and pedagogical research areas in gallium nitride power electronics, machine learning for electronics applications, engineering net-zero and systems approach to innovation of engineering education integrating pedagogy, policy and practice.
Current Projects
- Systems Approach to Engineering Education
- Reimagining the Engineering Education Pedagogy
- Gallium Nitride Power Electronic Systems using Machine Learning.
- Thinking and Learning to be an Engineer using EHoM (Engineering Habits of Mind)
