Rika obtained her master’s degree in development studies from the University of Melbourne and her bachelor’s degree in economics from Universitas Indonesia.

Rika joined SMERU in 2010 as a junior quantitative researcher.  Having been involved in many qualitative research projects at SMERU, Rika has developed passion for doing qualitative research. Her research interests lie in disability studies and governance. She also has expertise in youth studies and policy analysis.

Rika was involved in a study that was used as a reference for government design on youth development for the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). Due to her significant expertise in youth studies, Rika was then appointed to lead the team assigned to develop the National Strategy for Youth Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

Prior to joining SMERU, Rika worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Faculty of Economics (now Faculty of Economics and Business), Universitas Indonesia, and econometrics training assistant at Qiyara Damayanti Artiqa Consulting.

Her passion for doing research had developed since she was pursuing higher education in Universitas Indonesia. She won several essay competitions, including the ones held by Bank Indonesia (BI) in 2007 (second place); Tazkia Institute (first place); Economics and Development Studies Student Association of Universitas Diponegoro and the Semarang branch of BI in 2007 (second place); and the Faculty of Economics of Universitas Sebelas Maret (second place). She was a nominee of Universitas Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics (FE UI) Awards in 2007 in the Scientific Writing category.