RESEARCHERS TRIBE
Hello
Dr Priyank Sharma is an Assistant Professor at International Teachers University. With degrees in engineering (BTech from NIT), social work (MA Social Work from TISS), counselling (Diploma from NCERT), education (MPhil from NIEPA) and research (PhD from NIEPA), Priyank has built a rare interdisciplinary foundation that bridges technical thinking, human development, and educational research. Over the past decade, he has worked extensively in teacher education, educational research, and mentorship, supporting students and educators in designing rigorous studies, strengthening academic writing, and translating ideas into publishable work.
My Story
I didn’t start out planning to be in education.
After finishing engineering, I stepped into the workforce with the same curiosity that drives most young engineers. But very quickly I found myself asking bigger questions - questions about people, learning, purpose and impact. That led me away from coding and software and towards human systems. I pursued social work to understand people and communities, then counselling to learn how to listen deeply. Soon after, I returned to the world of learning itself - studying how education works, why it often doesn’t, and what it might become.
Through an MPhil and a PhD in education policy and planning, I encountered education in its many forms - from policy rooms to classrooms, from alternative schools to the lived realities of children across contexts. I realized that access to education is only the first step; the real challenge is making education meaningful, equitable, and reflective of the unique identities of learners.
Over the years, I’ve worked with teachers and learners at multiple levels - training educators of IB and Cambridge boards, mentoring students through complex research, advising organizations on equitable learning practices, and supporting high-school and college students in turning their ideas into rigorous research. These experiences taught me that research shouldn’t be an elite or inaccessible skill - it should be a way of thinking available to anyone who wants to ask better questions, make sense of evidence, and contribute meaningfully to their field.
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Researchers Tribe is my answer to that gap. It’s a space built not around quick fixes, templates, or shortcuts, but around guided learning, structured support, and a commitment to student authorship. Here, research becomes a craft you learn by doing, not outsourcing - a set of habits and skills that transform you into a critical thinker, a confident writer, and a careful scholar.
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For me, this work is driven by personal joy. Watching students create impactful research is the most fulfilling part of my journey. From a student collaborating with the Jaipur Foot Foundation to study cultural barriers to prosthetic adoption, to students working with tea garden workers in West Bengal to research the inaccessibility of government welfare schemes, these experiences are life-changing. Seeing my students conduct such outstanding research continues to inspire me and is the heart of Researchers Tribe.