Khogir Wirya is a Researcher at the Middle East Research Institute (MERI). He was born, brought up and educated in Kirkuk where he graduated with a B.A. in English Language Education and Literature. University of Nottingham was his next destination in pursuit of higher education. He completed his studies in Applied Linguistics with an M.A. He has gained extensive experience in different non-governmental organizations and companies. His areas of focus were human resources, administration and organization development.
Khogir began his career with ACDIVOCA, an international NGO, focusing on community development. He assisted with the implementation of a project for enhancing the capacity of the local government and communities to improve social services. In addition to that, he worked in/for DRC (Danish Refugee Council) where his main focus was the improvement of communication and coordination amongst a considerable number of directorates of Kirkuk in order to confront emergency situations. While at DRC, he worked on the topic of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) fleeing to Kirkuk due to security problems elsewhere in Iraq. Prior to MERI, he worked for KOREK Telecommunications in Erbil on organisational and employee development.