Riri obtained her master’s degree in economics from the University of Queensland, Australia, and her bachelor’s degree in economics from Universitas Indonesia. Setting her focus on applied econometrics in microeconomics, she wrote a thesis about the effect of the teacher certification program in Indonesia on the absence status of civil service teachers. Her knowledge in education research has been deepened through her involvement in the study on teacher absenteeism and the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Programme in Indonesia. She has vast experience in managing surveys and is knowledgeable about Indonesian datasets, such as the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas).

Riri is a quantitative researcher specializing in education, poverty, and multidimensional poverty. In RISE Programme in Indonesia, she led the development of tools for classroom observation and undertook studies on the Teacher Professional Education (PPG) Program.

Prior to joining SMERU, she was a research assistant for a study of voting behavior and political parties at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a research supervisor for Indonesia Seaweed Project 2007 conducted by New York University (NYU)’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Harvard University. She also worked as an assistant lecturer during her undergraduate studies at Universitas Indonesia.