Hinako Irei

Hinako Irei is a DPhil student in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation. Her research examines student agency in school-based mental health interventions, with a particular focus on how young people can actively shape the design and implementation of interventions.

Prior to Oxford, she earned an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she received the 2023 Class Marshal Award. She worked with the Ecological Approaches to Social Emotional Learning (EASEL) Lab, the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, and the Settings for Early Education and Development (SEED) Lab Streetlight Project funded by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

She also holds an M.A. in Developmental Psychology and Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University, where she received the 2022 Margaret Reagan Memorial Award and the 2021 John Stauffer Fellow Promising Professional Rising Star Award.

Alongside her research, Hinako is committed to fostering an inclusive graduate community. In 2026, she received the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry Innovation and Development Award for establishing the department's Freshers Representative role, collaborating with the Director of Graduate Studies to redesign the graduate induction process. The role has since been embedded within the department and continues to support new cohorts of students.

You can connect with Hinako Irei on LinkedIn.