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Emerald Upoma Baidya

এমারেল্ড উপমা বৈদ্য

Senior Manager

emerald.upoma@bracu.ac.bd


Brief Bio:

Emerald Upoma Baidya is working as the lead of the Design Team at BRAC Institute of Educational Development. Her works promote play-based learning for children and adolescents through design projects, programs, research, teaching, etc. She is in continuous pursuit of finding affordable design solutions for children and adolescents which help them learn and heal. Co-creation with children and communities is a core aspect of her team's work process. Emerald believes that design can be an impactful tool in responding to the social, cultural, and economic crisis of the context in which it takes place. Her interests include environmentally sustainable building technology, traditional and local building methods, community-led art, craft and design processes, etc. Emerald Upoma received her Bachelor of Architecture Degree in 2014 from BRAC University, Bangladesh, and her M.Sc. degree in Urban Strategic Spatial Planning in 2016 from KU Leuven, Belgium. She is also involved with POCAA (Platform of Community Action and Architecture) as a Community Architect.

Areas of Specialization

Architecture, Co-creative Design, Urban Planning, ECD and Play, Play and Learning Space Design

Research Interests

Play and Learning Space Design, Community Engagement and Co-creation in Design

Publications

  • Baidya, Upoma & Mahboob, Farah & Polin, Fatiha & Chowdhooree, Imon. (2020). Designing Spaces with Victims of Humanitarian Crisis: Action Research on Spaces for Children at Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh. 10.1007/978-981-15-4948-9_6.

  • Roushan, Nazia & Baidya, Upoma & Farzana, Suhailey. (2019). “O City, What do You Want to Be?”: Understanding what Cities Want Through Co-creation. Conscious Cities Anthology. 2019. 10.33797/CCA19.01.14.

  • BAIDYA, E.U. (2018). Understanding the Negative Impacts of Rigid Institutional Framework on Community Development Projects: A Case from Bangladesh. International Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs, 3(2), 156-165. Retrieved from http://www.ijcua.com/index.php/ijcua/article/view/108

  • ALAM, M., & BAIDYA, E. (2018). Empowering the Urban Poor through Participatory planning Process; a Case from Jhenaidah. Bangladesh. International Journal of Contemporary Urban affairs, 3(2), 47-54. Retrieved from http://www.ijcua.com/index.php/ijcua/article/view/109

Conferences/Workshops
  • Attended - World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, 14-16 November, 2022, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

  • Attended - 1st Developmental Play Conference, Kaleidoscope Therapy and Learning Center: 26-27 April, 2019, Manila, Philippines

  • Attended - Emergency Earth/ Sand Bag Shelter Building Workshop, Housing and Building Research Institute: 4-8 April, 2019, Dhaka

  • Presented - The ARNEC Learning Forum, 9-11 August, 2023, Cebu, Philippines.

  • Presented - Virtual Webinar on Play and play space for children, 30 November, 2023.

  • Presented - Architecture for the Displaced: Exploring Interventions for Sustainable and Resilient Communities, 12 April, 2019, BUET, Dhaka.