Ria is passionate about finding innovative governance solutions to meet disaster risk-related challenges. She has diverse experience in disaster risk reduction, related information and communication technology applications, and innovation from working across the Asia-Pacific region, and most recently countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

Ria is Preparedness Officer with the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), led by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) based in Rome, delivering the Cluster's emergency telecommunications preparedness services.

Most recently, she served with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), responsible for supporting evaluation of Asia-Pacific regional progress in Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) implementation, and was a core part of the Drafting Committee for the Ulaanbaatar Declaration and supporting Action Plan 2018-2020. Her tenure with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji focused on reporting, communications, and acting as the team's innovation focal point for driving forward the Pacific’s only South-South cooperation initiative on e-governance between Fiji and Bangladesh. Ria was also formerly engaged with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) to deliver capacity development modules and develop technical materials on disaster risk management in the Asia-Pacific context on a range of topics such as climate-resilient agriculture, El Niño impact assessment, and disaster information management.

Ria enjoys research. She has held a research associate role at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London for a project on analysis of shifting agricultural practices. She also worked as a research assistant with the think-tank affiliated to the London School of Economics (LSE) - POLIS - on media-specific projects.

She graduated with distinction, completing an MSc. from LSE in 2012 and a thesis published in the field of ICT for development. Her undergraduate studies were completed at Delhi University in India, and at the National University of Singapore (NUS) where she received a scholarship to study political science and urban studies.

In free time, Ria is a keen marine conservationist and is a certified coral reef surveyor.