Priya Sen is an alumni of Welham Girls High School and of Miranda House and Hindu College. In 1969, she went to France on a scholarship to work for a French funding agency that was bringing out a book on India. She later obtained a French Government scholarship and studied human resource planning and development studies. She did another M.A. and M. Phil in Sociology at Université René Descartes and a diploma in Business Studies at Paris-1, Sorbonne.
On her return to India, after working for some years in the corporate sector as business consultant, her interest in the environment induced her to join DRAG, for which she did a photographic exhibition on the Delhi Ridge in 1994. DRAG had then joined up with other NGOs to fight the commericalisation of the Ridge.
She initiated the school and adult education projects in the slum cluster Kusumur Pahari in 1994. A waste management project and income generation was also conducted, funded by the French Embassy. The school in Kusumpur Pahari was based on the play way method, for which the Women and Child Department gave funding for two years. We had many visitors – Japanese, Swiss, American…. Who did crafts and story-telling and acting with the children.
Priya Sen is a professional French-English translator and interpretor and has translated a number of academic books and articles. Her other passion is ceramics which she still pursues.