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 Master’s degree, Kyra has continued her work in the Pedagogies for Social Justice project and been appointed lecturer in Student Partnership and Social Justice in the CETI (Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation). As a woman of Mixed African-Asian descent, Kyra’s journey through higher education has been deeply introspective and interwoven with the complexities of confronting colonial entanglements in academia. As a coordinator of the Pedagogies for Social Justice project and co-host of the project’s podcast, Kyra dedicates herself to creating spaces for dialogue, encouraging diverse perspectives, amplifying student voice, and bringing oppressive frameworks within academia to light.

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.

Carol (she/her) is an Indigenous queer Bolivian Law student. Living in Europe, she has faced issues with colonial thinking that prevails, which affected her view of her identity. This emphasised her interest in issues surrounding decolonialism, anti-racism, and intersectionality. Her legal studies have made her even more aware as to how these issues are present through legal systems and institutions. She wants her work to amplify voices that often go unheard from communities that have been affected by colonialism, including her own. Through her volunteering work, she has been able to empower these communities through education and access to justice. With the Pedagogies for Social Justice project, Carol hopes to learn from an environment with positive change in higher education as a goal.

Since diving into the world of Sociology in the first year of her undergraduate degree at the University of Westminster, Kelsea has been eager to learn about how she can help in the fight for social justice, particularly drawing inspiration from Critical Race theorists and Black Feminist scholars. Her heritage as a Mixed White and Black Caribbean woman has enabled her to acknowledge, and more importantly challenge, white privilege and systemic racism, and has largely contributed to her passion for decolonial work in the university. In her role as a Research Intern for the Pedagogies for Social Justice Project, she continues to bring to light the voices of Indigenous scholars in her discipline, and wishes to continue in her allyship after leaving university.

Elantha is an educator-student-architect-collaborator. Their research is based in a belief that alongside deepening understandings of one another, our working methods, interests and cultures, diverse knowledges, wider experiences and personal interpretations, we must explore how these can be embedded and activated in our learning, teaching, disciplinary professional practices and institutional structures. Elantha’s PhD thesis - ‘Architecture, education, and an empathic imagination: deconstructing empathy: reconstructing practices’ - brings together findings from ‘students as co-creators’ projects and ‘participatory action research’ workshops, with a multi-disciplinary theoretical exploration of empathy. With a view to supporting pedagogies for social justice, part of its aim is to uncover empathetic practices and the learning environments that nurture them. As co-EDI-lead and Senior Tutor for the School of Architecture + Cities, Elantha is committed to improving student and colleague experiences. Their recent book ‘Dialogues & Dreams’ (2020) presents the diverse work and voices of a second-year undergraduate design studio and reflects upon how an inclusive pedagogical approach can support students in that interstitial year between arrival and graduation.

Rifa Ferzana is currently in her final year, pursuing a BEng (Hons) in Software Engineering at the University of Westminster. She is highly passionate about women's empowerment. During her tenure as the Women Students’ Community Organiser at the University of Westminster Students’ Union, Rifa had the privilege of immersing herself in the critical topics of decolonising women's empowerment and sociology. This experience served as a platform to showcase her unwavering dedication and commitment to addressing social issues. In 2022, Rifa further expanded her responsibilities by taking on the role of Student Partnership Ambassador and also assuming the leadership of the Google Developer Student Club at the University of Westminster. Additionally, she serves as a Student Panel Advisor (Validation), underlining her dedication to promoting social justice and women's empowerment within her academic community. recognition of her commitment to positive change, Rifa made contributions to the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) reading list, emphasizing her dedication to advancing global sustainability through education and collaboration.

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.

Cheyenne Holborough is a graduate from the University of Westminster with a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing. Her academic journey revealed a lack of relatable literature from the Black perspective, inspiring her dedication to making a change as an EDI rep for her course, as an EDI champion for the School of Humanities and as a member of the Pedagogies for Social Justice. Currently a full-time staff member of the University of Westminster Students' Union as the Academic Representation Coordinator for over a year, Cheyenne continues her mission. Her role involves training academic reps in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and integrating EDI principles into the SU's academic representation functions. This work is an extension of her commitment to amplifying voices that resonate with her own experiences.

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.

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.

Samir Pandya is an architect and Assistant Head of the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster (London), where he is also Director of International and Lead for Equity Projects. He has designed a wide range of award-winning buildings in practice, and has been a Visiting Professor at APIED School of Architecture, Anand (India), an External Examiner at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), and a PhD Co-Supervisor at the Università Iuav di Venezia, (Italy). His committee memberships and chairships have included the Society of Black Architects (Executive Committee), RIBA Education Committee (Member) and Architects for Change (Chair). He is currently an External Examiner at the University of Dundee (Scotland). He has served on numerous juries and awards, including for the National Association of Students of Architecture in India, the 2018 RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education, and the 2022 RIBA President’s Medals. In addition to being Co-Editor of National Identities: Critical Inquiry into Nationhood, Politics & Culture (Taylor & Francis), he is an Editorial Board member for FOLIO (Journal of Contemporary African Architecture) and Veranda, the peer-reviewed journal of Sushant School of Art & Architecture, Delhi (India). He is also on the Academic Advisory Board for the pioneering African Futures Institute, Accra (Ghana). He is the current Chair of the RIBA President’s Dissertation Medal, and was one of 14 tutors invited to teach at the Biennale College Architettura (on the subject of Decolonising Architecture) at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. His new book, After Belonging: Architecture, Nation, Difference (Routledge, 2023) examines the complex bond between architecture, spatial politics, and complex forms of collective (non-) belonging.