Project Advisory Group

Our goal is that the project will be of strong relevance to schools and young people, so we have assembled an Advisory Group made up of some of the UK’s leading practitioners, academics and advocates in the fields of education, young people’s lives, equality and human rights. Please scroll down for more information on each member of our Advisory Group.

Shahina Ahmad is Regional Director Executive Principal at Star Academies, and formerly Executive Headteacher Eden Girls’ School, Waltham Forest, Walthamstow, London. Shahina brings 30 years professional experience in disadvantaged schools and faith schools in London, and will guide the project team on sensitively accessing schools in London for fieldwork.

Dr Asif Afridi is Deputy Director of brap, the national equalities charity based in Birmingham. Dr Afridi has leading research and policy experience of working with a variety of partners including Local Authorities and NGOs on race and faith equality issues. brap are at the forefront of facilitating complex discussions with schools and local authorities on young people’s negotiation of their political and personal values. Alongside providing insight into these issues, Asif and brap will advise on and support the rollout of the national survey of students and teachers, and support the team in accessing national and city stakeholders for interview and case study.

Ms Frances Bestley is the Programme Director of the UK Committee for UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award. The award puts children’s rights at the heart of schools and gives children the best chance to lead happy healthy lives and to be responsible active citizens. Her contribution to the group would be to disseminate the findings to rights respecting schools and strengthen teachers’ understanding of this aspect of human rights education.

Razia Butt is Senior Education Advisor to Europe’s largest local authority, Birmingham City Council (BCC). Razia brings unparalleled Local Authority Education experience, having led on the city’s highly successful adoption of the Rights Respecting Schools programme in the wake of the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair. Razia and BCC will support and advise on the rollout of the national surveys across local authority-supported schools, access to ethnographic field sites and translation of findings into policy impact across local authorities.

Anna Graham is Acting Head of Art and Design at University of Birmingham Secondary School. Anna brings 10 years’ professional experience in white, suburban and ethno-religiously diverse urban schools, where she has consistently supported underrepresented students and teachers. Her lived experience as a Black British female with dyslexia, and her visual arts expertise, will guide the project’s engagement of race, material culture and expression with young people.

Dr Tarek Mostafa is Associate Professor at the School of Education, University of Birmingham, and formerly Policy Analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Tarek contributes his world-leading experience in the design, administration, and analysis of in-school surveys from his work on the PISA Global (multicultural, citizenship, employability, digital and sustainability) Competency Assessment.

Prof Hugh Starkey is Professor of Education at the UCL Institute of Education, London, and has published internationally influential research combining empirical and conceptual elements to theorise young people’s citizenship and rights. He has acted as expert for UNESCO, Council of Europe, EU and British Council and he will be able to advise the project at every stage. Hugh will ensure that the project connects to other relevant initiatives and will help the project broaden and deepen its impact with government and with international organisations and civil society.

Dr Anna Strhan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University of York, and PI on the current Leverhulme-funded Project (2021-25) Becoming Citizens of ‘Post-Secular Britain’. Dr Strhan has leading research expertise in participatory, visual and ethnographic methods applied to questions of religion and non-religion across the multiple spaces of children’s lives. She will help identify how the two projects inform each other conceptually, empirically, and in terms of how they can positively impact on children and young people’s experiences of citizenship in and out of schools.