Ritika Asher_

Hi! I'm Ritika Asher, a senior at Princeton University majoring in Politics with a concentration in International Relations and minors in French and History. I'm interested in international human rights, migration, and the ways law, technology, and policy shape people's lives across borders. More recently, I've become fascinated by open-source investigations (OSINT) and visual methods of documenting human rights abuses.

My work has taken me across government, international organizations, nonprofits, and academia. I've interned with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and SOS Méditerranée in France, contributed to migration and refugee research at Princeton, and worked in public policy through the Office of the Governor of New Jersey. Across these experiences, I've focused on displacement, refugee protection, and the human impact of migration policy.Outside of research, I believe storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for advocacy. I am the author of Detained (2023), a book highlighting personal narratives from immigration detention centers.

I also love to dance. I currently serve as the Artistic Director of Princeton University Ballet, where I help to curate the artistic vision of the company, and choreograph and perform for semesterly shows.

After graduation, I hope to pursue work at the intersection of human rights, investigative research, and visual storytelling.