Aya Ouagague is an MPhil candidate in Development Studies at the University of Oxford. She holds a First-Class Honours degree in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick. Born and raised in Morocco and working across Arabic, French, and English, Aya’s academic and professional interests focus on African co-development, education, and regional cooperation.

Her research examines how the Moroccan state constructs and mobilises its plurilingual identity—across Arabic, Amazigh, French, and increasingly English—as a political and diplomatic resource in education and training cooperation with West Africa. Rather than viewing language as a cultural artefact, her work treats it as a state-led resource shaping diplomacy, access, and mobility within South–South cooperation.

Alongside her academic work, Aya has extensive experience in Africa-focused conferences, student leadership, and stakeholder engagement. She previously served as Head of External Relations at the Warwick Africa Summit, where she led speaker strategy, coordinated high-profile speakers, and ensured thematic coherence across panels and breakout sessions, engaging closely with policymakers, academics, civil society actors, and business leaders.

She has also gained international policy exposure through her work at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech, where she engaged with global development debates and practitioners.

Aya has been actively involved in grassroots development work in Morocco, collaborating with several local NGOs on education and community-based initiatives. Most recently, she supported communities affected by the 2023 Morocco earthquake, contributing to post-disaster recovery efforts, including initiatives to improve access to clean water through the construction of community wells.

Committed to fostering meaningful dialogue across African regions, Aya continues to contribute to Africa-focused initiatives at Oxford, supporting programme design, speaker engagement, and interdisciplinary exchange. Her work is driven by the belief that Africa’s development pathways are best shaped through intra-African dialogue, cooperation, and locally grounded solutions—amplifying African voices and enabling Africans to learn from one another across regions, languages, and experiences.