Miya Irawati has been the executive director of the Public Virtue Research Institute (PVRI) since the beginning of 2022. She first joined PVRI in 2021 as the program director.

Prior to joining PVRI, from 2016–2021, Miya worked as a researcher at Urban-Rural Systems, Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), ETH Zurich. In 2017, she got a scholarship from FCL to obtain her Ph.D. in Human Geography from the National University of Singapore with the dissertation topic ‘land politics in urbanized Jakarta’s extended urban region’. Her project with ETH Zurich on Expandable House is shortlisted for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Trained as an architect and urban planner and practiced as a green building practitioner, Miya also obtained a Master of Science from FHTW Berlin/Helsinki Metropolia and a Bachelor of Architecture from Trisakti University in Indonesia. She was active in the student organization of Trisakti University during 1998-2001. Then, she has been engaged in civil society organizations focusing on environmental crises and housing provision. She also has taught at Tarumanagara University, Indonesia, and several universities abroad. Following those outputs, she has been engaged as a research associate with various joint research programs with universities in the U.S, Europe, Southeast and East Asia, and Australia.