MBRN Committee
Chair: Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Assistant Professor, Coventry University)
Sariya is a Feminist Sociologist of Religion. She is Assistant Professor and Research Group Lead for Faith and Peaceful Relations at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK. Her work lays particular emphasis on democratic research methodologies that work with and for research participants. She is the author of a number of publications relating to British Muslim Studies and inter-religious relations in Britain.
General Secretary: Dr Khadijah Elshayyal (University of Edinburgh)
Khadijah is an Associate Fellow at the University of Edinburgh specialising in contemporary British Muslim history, and also teaches at the Centre of Islamic Studies, Hamad bin Khalifa University, in Doha. Her research interests lie in the political and cultural activism, advocacy and representation of Muslims and other minorities in the UK. Her publications include Muslim Identity Politics: Islam, activism and equality in Britain (IB Tauris, 2020) and Scottish Muslims in Numbers: understanding Scotland’s Muslims through the 2011 Census (University of Edinburgh, 2016)
Dr Asma Khan (Cardiff University)
Asma is Research Fellow in British Muslims Studies at the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University. Alongside her academic research experience, she has worked as a freelance research consultant on applied research projects for public and third sector organisations. Asma’s research interests include migration and ethno-religious inequalities in the labour market
Committee Member: Dr Sufyan Dogra (Bradford University)
Sufyan is Senior Research Fellow at Bradford Institute for Health Research. He is an anthropologist researching lived experiences of Muslims and ethnic minorities in Britain. Currently, he explores ways to enhance physical activity and encourage healthy dietary habits for children by using mosques and madrassas in Britain. He did policy research at University of Reading on diversity in cemeteries and burials, and postdoctoral research on Shia Islam in Britain at the University of Chester.
Committee Member: Sadiya Ahmed (Everyday Muslim)
Sadiya founded Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative in response to the lack of representation of the Muslim narrative in both archives and museums in Britain. To date there are three archive collections held at five archive depositories across London and the South-East. Alongside her experience of fundraising, project/event/exhibition planning and managing heritage projects, she has also negotiated collaborations and partnerships with museums, archives, academics, artists, media and community groups across Britain.
Committee Member: Dr Jawiria Naseem (University of Birmingham)
Jawiria is an early career academic in Education and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham. She is particularly interested in the education and employment nexus and its impact on the life trajectories and experiences of Muslims and other minority ethnic groups in Western Europe. Her work notably builds on comparative research between France and the United Kingdom.
Committee Member: Dr Asma Mustafa (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies)
Dr Asma Mustafa is the Dean of Scholars and holds a Research Fellowship on Muslims in Britain at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. She is the organizer and facilitator of the annual residential Young Muslim Leadership Programme and its alumni network, which she has successfully led for over a decade. Asma is also Trustee, Governing Body Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford and served as Senior Tutor from 2014-2016. Asma’s current research interests include the ‘Leadership of prominent Muslim Women’ and ‘Cultural Code-Switching among British Muslims’.
Committee Member: Dr Laura Mora (early career scholar)
Dr Laura Mora is an early career scholar in feminist media studies and the sociology of Islam, and is interested in the implicit conditions for minority groups to gain online visibility and social acceptance. Laura currently teaches gender and (social) media at Queen’s University Belfast, and has previously taught at Cardiff University and Keele University. She has completed a postdoctoral research (Loughborough University) on the self-representation of Paralympic athletes, and an award-winning PhD (Keele University) on Muslim women’s self-representation in hijab fashion.
Committee Member: Qudra Goodall (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)
Qudra Goodall is an ESRC funded PhD candidate and Associate Tutor at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Her doctoral research ‘Coming into Being’ – An ethnography of ethics and change amongst young British-Born Muslim women in Norfolk collates narratives and everyday experiences around belonging, womanhood and representation that reflexively challenge intergenerational and ideological perspectives and reimagine their British Muslim identity. Qudra is part of the collaborative and interdisciplinary RCUK- funded British Muslim Values Project (UEA/BBC). Producing a film exploring second-generation British convert Muslim women’s perspectives on the compatibility between ‘British’ and ‘Islamic’ values.
She has a BA Honours in International Politics and Modern Languages (University of Aberystwyth, Wales), and a Research Masters in Social Sciences Research Methods (UEA, International Development).
Committee Member: Professor Tamjid Mujtaba (University College London)
Professor Tamjid Mujtaba based at University College London is directing and leading on a number of educational research evaluations. She is an experienced mixed methods researcher. She has put forward suggestions for educational policy and practice about what can be done to enhance attainment and positive educational experiences for disadvantaged groups.
Her recent work in the UK includes a randomised controlled trial for the Education Endowment Fund which found a science programme accelerate learning by two months. She has also looked into how cross-curricular teaching can enhance students’ perceptions of science see here https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/12/937.