Rojda Idil Arslan is a second-year Ph.D. student in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Connecticut, where she is also pursuing a graduate certificate in Human Rights.

Her research focuses on contemporary Kurdish literature and cultural production, with particular attention to non-essentialist forms of representation and the ways decolonial perspectives on human rights emerge in these works. She is especially interested in comparative approaches that place Kurdish cultural traditions in dialogue with other Indigenous narratives.

Before beginning her doctoral studies at UConn, Rojda earned an MA in English from West Virginia University and a BA in Western Languages and Literatures from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Beyond her research, Rojda is actively involved in graduate student life at UConn. Since Fall 2024, she has served as Secretary of the Languages Graduate Student Association (LANGSA).

In the 2025–2026 academic year, she will work with Dr. James Waller as the Charles E. Scheidt Graduate Assistant for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention.