Our steering group

After years of both learning and then teaching dominant Eurocentric capitalist models of fashion design, Tanveer has completed her PhD at the Open University to investigate ways of teaching anti-capitalist and anti-racist forms of fashion design. As a female of South Asian Indian heritage, she has been inspired by decolonial and black feminist literatures which have given her the confidence to draw on my family histories to practice alternative fashion design pedagogies centred around a politics of love as a tactic to disrupt and replace neoliberal educational agendas.

Having recently completed her undergraduate degree in Sociology at Westminster, Kyra has continued her studies for a Master's in International Relations. As a woman of mixed African-Asian descent, identity work has been a complex task for Kyra, but nevertheless a process that has also inspired her efforts towards creating decolonial and anti-racist tools and spaces in the academy. Approaching her final years in education, she hopes that her work on the project can help to transform the ways we think about and engage with pedagogy at Westminster.

Ipshita is a political sociologist, specialising in the area of Development Justice for indigenous and marginalised communities. Originally from Eastern India, she has spent more than two decades in the U.K. Britain's encounter with Asia and Africa, has determined her life, family and circumstances in so many ways. When she first arrived in Coventry for a M.A. in Sociology at the University of Warwick, the hostel warden asked her, "how can you speak the Queen's English?", to which she replied, "well because you lived with us for over 300 years!". Her role models are her maternal grandparents, who left India to build the railways in Kenya in the early 20th century, and her paternal grandparents, who were true cosmopolitans in a time of heightened nationalism in British Kolkata. Today, Ipshita's interactions with indigenous subalterns from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, give her the purpose, the direction and the motivation to creatively decolonise research methods and learning. She believes that decolonising is political and self reflective, as it is not only about correcting representation of minorities in extant structures, but it is also about considering how we think about ourselves- our emotions, our values, our minds and how this affects our relations with others.

Deanne is a Jamaican who comes to decolonial and anti-racism work through liberation psychology, critical community psychology and ecopsychology. She is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. Increasingly persuaded that the route out of racism and classism begins with a radical increase in critical consciousness of coloniality Deanne’s work focuses on revealing how coloniality operates and affects psychic life. She uses a decolonial framework both within the university, where she is involved with decolonising the university, and more broadly where she continues to study the psychosocial effects of coloniality on the majority world.

Olimpia (she/her) is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster. As a white, lesbian/queer migrant, Olimpia’s work has focused on issues of inclusion/exclusion and the transformative potential of queer activism. She is currently working on a project on the global politics of homocapitalism in the Global South, looking at the relationships between LGBT politics and multinational corporations.

A non-binary queer academic at the University of Westminster, Jennifer has spent the past 20 years in the UK teaching and researching at the intersections of literature, gender studies, queer theory and critical pedagogies. Their approaches to education are also shaped by experiences as a white settler migrant in Canada and by growing up between different linguistic and geographic spaces of ‘home’. These both/and experiences of identity formation have taught them to centre building relationships and sharing stories to develop collaborative analyses. Jennifer loves that the Pedagogies for Social Justice project brings them into contact with other dreamers and co-conspirators for change.

A neurodivergent, queer woman from London, Kate (she/her) is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature (Theatre). She is the co-director of the Queer London Research Forum, is the EDI Lead for the School of Humanities, and sits on the steering committee for Black History Year.

Manvir Kaur Grewal is a Sikh academic, writer, and lifelong learner, with descendants from Punjab. She was a first-generation university entrant, from a low-socio economic background, which meant she found it difficult to navigate the complex dynamics of higher education. Now, in academia, Manvir is mostly interested in socio-legal theory and decolonial thought, with particular focus on if and how the legal profession and higher education perpetuate inequalities. Manvir acknowledges that despite systemic challenges, she is also privileged as a cis-heterosexual, permanent resident in the United Kingdom and a native speaker in both English and Punjabi.

Cheyenne Holborough is a British Caribbean student with a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing from the University of Westminster. Over the years, she has found that studying English has never been relatable to her as the literature studied was never from the black perspective. Cheyenne hopes to not only change things on her course but for the entire university so that all the people who feel like her can be heard.

Huanyu is doing her PhD at the University of Westminster, to explore the relationship between social media and feminism campaigns, and the feminist narratives in the non-western social context. As a feminist and an East Asian woman, Huanyu believes that the perspective of feminism and the voice of East Asians are of great significance in discussions of higher education issues. She hopes to use them as approaches to contribute to the Pedagogy for Social Justice project.

Naseem Joban is a Pakistani woman with roots in Bihar, India and earlier roots in Mashhad Iran. She passionately enjoys her EDI lead role in the School of Management and Marketing, where she is a Senior Lecturer in Management. Naseem has always had a love of learning and developing, and this was severely hindered and disrupted by the formal education system. As such Naseem has always strived to provide educational experiences which lead to personal, professional, and therefore societal transformation. Naseem has over three decades of experience in both higher education as well as in people development through her private coaching practices.

An Egyptian-German, female, Muslim woman lecturer and researcher at the University of Westminster. Existing at the intersections of what is often socially perceived as contradictory identities – Arab-Western-Muslim-liberal – resulted in a constant process of having to culturally translate her ‘self’, attest the appropriateness of her values and compatibility of her identities. Fatima spent her life between Egypt and Germany and has been living in the UK for the past five years, where she finished her doctorate and is continuing her professional path.

Her Lebanese/Irish background and her interest in their histories have largely contributed to her fight for a voice as she empathises with the strength of their civilians to stand strong during difficult times. Lauren aims to combine her degree with humanitarian work in the future in the hope to improve third-world countries in the economic, political and social sense. As well as this, she is a strong advocate for women empowerment in which she strives to work with women who are underrepresented, specifically in the Middle East, where they continue to be treated as inferior to their male counterparts.

Samir Pandya is an architect and Assistant Head of the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster (London), where he was Course Leader for the pioneering design-led MA Architecture, Cultural Identity and Globalisation for over a decade. He has held various visiting and external academic posts in the UK, as well as in Cyprus, India, Italy, and South Africa. His committee memberships have included the Society of Black Architects (Executive Committee), RIBA Education Committee (Member) and Architects for Change (Chair). He is Co-Editor of National Identities: Critical Inquiry into Nationhood, Politics & Culture (Taylor & Francis), and Editorial Board Member of FOLIO (Journal of Contemporary African Architecture) and of Veranda, the peer-reviewed journal of Sushant School of Art & Architecture (Delhi). He is also on the Academic Advisory Board for the African Futures Institute. His new book, After Belonging: Architecture, Nation, Difference (Routledge) will be available from December 2022.

Having completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Westminster, Tino intends to continue her career in the world of biomedicine and healthcare. Tino has a keen interest in merging all disciplines and a belief that multiple perspectives are key for social progress. Born in Zimbabwe; she has been inspired by the voices of black writers and academics, taking inspiration to make science anti-racist and accesible. As a young woman navigating identity, in her final year she aims to draw on her own personal experience to create tools that forge a safe, open and de-colonial space at Westminster.

Having completed her Master's degree in Journalism, Shivangi is interested in the fine workings of society and how different communities interact with each other. She believes that the histories and cultural differences do not create a divide but can actually facilitate bringing everyone together to build a better functioning and more tolerant world. Through her work she hopes to bring forth the stories of Asian communities, their sufferings and how marginalisation has changed the course of their lives in order to promote a deeper understanding of the intricacies of their history and culture. Coming from India and being a former student of Literature, she understands the power of narration and the importance of stories in creating an environment that is conducive to growth and positive change. By sharing the experience of her community, Shivangi aims to help build a space in Westminster that will be more appreciative of the differences of various cultures and will serve as an example to inspire students of all ethnicities and social groups.