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Rhoda Myra Garces-Bacsal

Dr. Rhod Myra a Myra Garces-Bacsal serves as the Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and is an Associate Professor with the Department of Special and Gifted Education Department, College of Education at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). She currently serves as the Chair of the Research and Graduate Studies Committee, the College Strategic Committee, and the College Expo 2020 Committee. Myra has led two joint collaborative research projects with University College London on reading and social emotional learning; and the use of diverse picturebooks for culturally responsive, inclusive and sustaining pedagogies among teachers in the UAE. She is a Recipient of the College Excellence Award for Service in 2023, College Excellence Award for Scholarship in 2022, and a University Achievement Award in Research for publishing in Top 5% journal as Corresponding Author in 2022Myra also served as a Chief Judge for the World Giftedness Center Award in 2025 for the Applied Research Global Award of Talented Education and the School Global Award Initiative of Talented Education, and served as a jury member for both awards in 2023 and 2024.

Prior to moving to the Middle East, she served as an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where she served as the Programme Leader of the Masters Program in High Ability Studies and was co-Coordinator of the Diploma in Special Education, the Professional Development Leader, and Pedagogical Developments and Innovations Leader of Early Childhood and Special Needs Education Academic Group. She served as the Chairperson of the Programme Committee for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content held annually in Singapore from 2012 to 2019 and continue to serve as an International Advisor at large. She has also been asked to serve as Chief Judge for the biennial Hedwig Anuar Book Award in Singapore in 2024. She has edited five books on Asian children’s literature which are compilations of notable presentations from the Asian Festival Children’s Content, featuring the Philippines, Malaysia, China, India, and Japan. Myra was appointed as the Director of Reading Resources from 2017 to 2019 for a UK-based non governmental organization, Think Equal, that is working with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN agencies to promote social and emotional learning across early childhood learning centres around the globe. As a passionate reading advocate, she shares her passion for reading and book hunting in her website http://gatheringbooks.org followed by over 200 countries.