Priya S. Nayar is Executive Director of University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) North America, where she leads the North American engagement of Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, and the University of Duisburg-Essen. Based in New York, Priya works at the intersection of science communication and science diplomacy, strengthening transatlantic cooperation in higher education, research, and innovation and connecting the three universities with partners across academia, government, industry, and civil society in the United States and Canada.
During her tenure at UA Ruhr, Priya has developed and led a wide range of transatlantic initiatives bringing together students, researchers, university leaders, policymakers, and practitioners. Her work includes fellowship and academic mobility programs, research and innovation initiatives, institutional partnerships, and interdisciplinary dialogues on topics ranging from sustainability and emerging technologies to democracy and international cooperation. She has a particular interest in the role of universities as bridge-builders across national, institutional, and disciplinary boundaries, and in creating networks and relationships that endure beyond individual projects and political cycles.
Prior to joining University Alliance Ruhr, Priya was Director of the New York study center of Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, which she established as one of the first German study centers in the United States. She has represented Free University of Berlin and Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich prior to that. Priya holds a Master’s degree in Media Education from The New School in New York and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Philosophy from the Honors College at Adelphi University. Her own international education included study at Freie Universität Berlin and Sciences Po in Paris.
Priya serves as Chair of the Advisory Board of the German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) San Francisco, is a member of the DWIH New York Advisory Board, and serves on the Board of Directors of the TU Dortmund University India Gateway and Adelphi University’s Advisory Council. She also volunteers with the German-American Scholarship Association, where she serves as Vice Chair of the annual Quadrille Ball. She is actively engaged in networks advancing international higher education, science diplomacy, and transatlantic cooperation.