I’m currently a Research Fellow in the Institute of Applied Social Studies in the School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham (see my University profile page here).

I joined the Institute of Applied Social Studies in June 2009. Before taking up that post, I was Director of Research & Policy at BRAP, a Birmingham-based national equalities and human rights charity. At the same time, I also held a Visiting Lecturer’s post at the University of Wolverhampton where I taught in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences. I’ve also taught in the Open University and the Markfield Institute of Higher Education taking in such modules as ‘Introduction to Multiculturalism’, ‘Islam’, ‘The Religious Landscape of Contemporary Britain’ and ‘Media, Culture & Society’ along the way.

It was at the University of Birmingham where I completed my AHRC research council-funded doctoral studies, exploring the discourse and theory of Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination against Muslims in the UK. Whilst I’ve continued to explore the phenomenon of Islamophobia along with other issues currently facing Muslim communities, my current research interests are wider and include: the role and function of faith and faith communities in today’s public and political spaces; the contemporary far-right; BME and other minority community issues; equalities legislation, policy and practice; and policy areas relating to integration and community cohesion amongst others.

As well academic research, I also a strong policy background having worked with a number of different organisations and institutions over the past decade or so. As well as BRAP, I’ve worked with the House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences, the Finance Hub, Capacity Builders, the British Council, the Greater London Authority, the West Midlands Regional Observatory, and the Centre for European Policy Studies amongst others.

I have published and presented my research both in the UK and across Europe. I was co-author of the EUMC’s synthesis report into Islamophobia in the EU following 9/11 and have a forthcoming book entitled, ‘Islamophobia’ to be published by Ashgate in October this year.

In terms of the media, I’ve had a monthly column in the Birmingham Post and have appeared on Channel 4, the BBC, Central ITV, Islam Channel, Sky News and Press TV. As for radio, I have been featured on the BBC’s Asian Network, 5 Live, Radio WM and Radio London amongst others. I also co-produced and co-presented a radio show on Birmingham’s ‘Unity FM’ for just over a year.