Researchers
Trustees
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Kate is our CEO and Co-Founder. She has experience in one-to-one outreach work with girls and women from migrant communities suffering all types of domestic abuse and ‘honour’-based abuse. Kate has an MA in Humanitarian and Development Practice and previously practiced law as a solicitor. Her research includes violence against women in Pakistan and the effectiveness of the legal system. Kate has a passion for working with young people and advocacy through creative arts. She is married to a Pakistani man and enjoys reading and learning Urdu in her free time.
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Kate is our Research and Evaluation Director and Co-Founder of Sundial (previously Oxford Against Cutting). Kate specialises in intersectional, gender, equality and diversity issues, using research to drive positive change. Kate also works with a number of research organisations including Oxford Brookes University. She builds on her former successful career in HR and change management consultancy, having returned to study to complete a PhD with Brookes on the social impact of equality law. Kate is a keen human rights activist and long term campaigner for Oxford City Amnesty International.
Kate’s Research Experience
Kate has led on evaluation methods and reporting for Sundial for over 10 years, working alongside colleagues to develop and implement mechanisms to collect and collate user/client feedback and maintain a system of continuous learning and improvement. This includes survey design, delivery and statistical analysis, qualitative studies (interviews and observation), systematic review of online documentation and web resources feeding into an Excel resource bank.
Kate also works as an Associate Researcher for Oxford Brookes University, providing intersectional gender expertise for process mapping and focus groups for a British Council-funded Gender Equality Partnership project (Oxford Brookes and University of Rio Grande do Sul). As a freelancer, Kate worked as UK National Researcher for an EU-funded UniSAFE project, providing desk research on gender-based violence and sexual harassment in research-performing/higher education organisations. She has also conducted social policy research (specialising in equality, diversity, and inclusion) and led projects including investigating experiences of LGBTQ+ students in further education. Kate was responsible for the design, research and project management of an EU-wide feasibility study, including systematic document review, mapping of activities and features and qualitative investigation (primarily interviews) for a potential Europe-wide gender equality certification scheme (CASPER).
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Kaddy is our longest serving Facilitator, delivering training and supporting communities with Sundial (previously Oxford Against Cutting) from soon after the charity was founded. Kaddy is a survivor of FGM and a qualified Nurse. She uses her lived experience to help families affected by FGM in both her professional work and advocacy in the UK and in the Gambia. Kaddy previously volunteered as Women’s Rights Coordinator for Amnesty International Gambia and is the President of the SeneGambia. She is passionate about stopping inequalities between men and women, ending violence against women and girls and human rights.
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Dot is our Operations Manager, coordinating our education programme and leading our team of facilitators. She has considerable experience delivering training and lessons, leads our Web Café programme and plays a central role in many aspects of the charity. Dot has a special interest in body image issues and led the development of our education work on online imagery, pornography and harmful body alterations. She has also been a mentor with Refugee Resource and a trustee for Young Women’s Music Project. Dot has a BA in Philosophy and teaches yoga.
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Vania is our Domestic Abuse Specialist and has 11 years’ frontline experience supporting victims of abuse with Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Services as Team Leader and Helplines Manager. She has worked extensively on violence against women and girls in both the UK and Portugal and is currently supporting the Portuguese government on the creation of their new domestic abuse strategy. Vania has held research roles exploring femicide and life stories of women survivors of domestic abuse, focusing on politicisation and activism as pathways to recovery. She brings specialist expertise in delivering training for Sundial on domestic abuse, ‘honour’-based abuse, No Recourse to Public Funds, transnational marriage abandonment and spiritual abuse. Vania also leads on safeguarding.
Vania has a background in psychology and therapy which she has used in her work to facilitate community building and peer to peer support. She has worked with international organisations across the world on gender-based violence with an emphasis on victims of armed conflicts, human trafficking and displacement, as well as women’s involvement in peacebuilding. She has experience volunteering with refugees and her current research focuses on border control practices and the impact of the No Recourse to Public Funds rule on domestic abuse victims, families and communities.
Vania’s research experience
Vania worked with the team on the needs assessments for the BAMER project in Oxfordshire, with a particular focus on engaging diverse local communities and informing strategic service planning. She also has experience designing and delivering domestic abuse needs assessments for the 33 women’s shelters in Portugal. During her time at Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Service, Vania worked as a Team Leader, Line Manager of the Single Point of Access Helpline, Lead Specialist on No Recourse to Public Funds and migrant communities, and BAMER Support Officer. She supported the mapping of service data and indicators relevant to domestic abuse, including the design and implementation of case management systems and quarterly monitoring packs on the quality and quantity of service provision. Vania also supported the service design for a successful tender and funding bids for the domestic abuse service, aligning project design with commissioning priorities and statutory requirements.
Vania facilitated workshops and group work through the ‘BAMER’ project in coordination with strategic partners. Her skills in collecting insights, opinions, and information from stakeholders, service users, or affected communities were developed through outreach and recovery programmes for minoritised groups and via project design.
Vania led gap analyses identifying systemic barriers – particularly in services for clients with No Recourse to Public Funds – while producing professional reports supported by tools such as Power BI, SharePoint and Canva. Vania has also applied these skills in international contexts, including the ‘Love, Fear and Power’ research project and her role as a member of the international board of a grassroots organisation working on violence against women. Grounded in both frontline expertise and policy-level impact, Vania’s approach is shaped by the specific needs and strategic challenges of minority ethnic communities, with a particular knowledge built by her practice across Oxfordshire.
As Domestic Violence Specialist and Safeguarding Lead at Sundial, Vania co-chairs the strategic Diverse Worlds group, whilst delivering Sundial’s community programmes and professional training. She maintains expert knowledge of UK legislation and statutory guidance around domestic abuse and harmful practices through her work training professionals across sectors.
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Rashmi is our Lead Trainer and has over 10 years’ experience in training and development. Her experience includes designing and delivering training for aid workers to help prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, customising curriculum design and preparing training evaluation. She employs adult learning principles to ensure meaningful, lasting results and has a highly engaging delivery style. Rashmi holds a Bachelors Degree in Management Studies from the University of Mumbai and a Masters Degree in Occupational and Business Psychology from Kingston University. Rashmi is also a Certified Ashtanga Yoga Instructor, practitioner of Zen techniques, traveller and avid reader.
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Tanya is our Social Media Communications Consultant. She has a special interest in the interplay of cultures, as a Sikh woman who has lived in both the UK and Kenya. Tanya has a passion for raising awareness of inequality issues affecting women and the LGBTQ community. She owns a henna business where her campaign ‘Henna has no borders’ aims to bring the joys of henna to as many people as possible, regardless of their gender or race. She has a BA. Hons in International Marketing and Business and achieved a first class honours for her Masters in PR Management.
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Alexis is our Research Assistant and Bookings Coordinator. She is currently undertaking an ESRC funded PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex, having previously undertaken Masters degrees in Social Anthropology and Social Research Methods. Her research focuses on experiences of mental wellbeing among Ghanaian migrants in the UK, exploring how community practices, gender, family, religion and racial inequalities factor into resettlement and help-seeking behaviours. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University working on equality and diversity projects, and as Refugee and Displacement Research Assistant for Oxfam GB.
Alexis’ research experience
Alexis has Masters degrees in both Social Anthropology and Social Research Methods, and is currently completing her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex. She is also an Associate Researcher for Oxford Brookes University and has been involved in the research and implementation of projects including ‘Women and Spinouts’ funded by the EPSRC, ‘RESISTIRÉ: Reducing gendered inequalities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic’, European wide Horizon 2020 project, ‘Wellcome Inclusive Wellbeing and Mental Health’ with University of Oxford and ‘Cross-Cultural Exploration of Parenthood Perceptions and Practices in Higher Education’ funded by the British Council. She also gained research experience from her role at Oxfam GB as their Refugee and Displacement Research Assistant. She has experience of qualitative and quantitative research, conducting narrative and semi-structured interviews, focus groups, needs assessments, gap analysis, ethnographic observation and desk-based research, and has undertaken research with migrants, community members and religious leaders on sensitive topics. She has published on issues related to gender, intersectionality, care, migration and health, and is a Mental Health First Aider.
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Rubie is our Ambassador and a Facilitator. She is a survivor of forced marriage, as well as domestic and sexual violence. She was married at the age of 15, taken out of school, kept a prisoner and forced to marry and fall pregnant soon after. She endured family disownment and lived a life of poverty as a young single parent.
Rubie returned to education where she was determined to complete her GCSE’s at 25 years old followed by various forms of counselling. She has contributed to academic studies in specialised education material on ‘honour’-based abuse and assisted higher education students in dissertations on the subject. Rubie also contributed towards an anthology book called “Beyond the Scars,” an Amazon best-seller within 24 hours of release, in which she talked about her battle with poor health, abuse and overcoming cultural barriers. She is in the process of completing her autobiography.
Rubie’s journey has taken her down the route of modelling and pageantry, to reach a wider audience globally. She became the first ever Ms Galaxy UK National 2016, Ms Galaxy 2016/2017 International and Ms Earth UK National 2017/2018. In 2018 she achieved Ms Earth Wind first runner up and in February 2020 placed third runner up in Ms Great Britain. Rubie is dedicated to motivating and empowering women and regularly appears in the media to raise awareness of ‘honour’-based abuse.
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Mariama is a Sundial Anti-FGM Facilitator and a Survivor of FGM, with a huge passion to help the girl child. She is an Adult Care Worker who was born in the Gambia. Mariama has worked with Sundial as a Facilitator from soon after the charity was set up, generously sharing her lived experience with many different audiences to support learning and protect children. She is skilled at putting groups at ease, narrating her experiences with honesty and humour, whilst sharing the multiple dynamics at play when FGM is “celebrated”. Mariama has two children and enjoys cooking.
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Emma is a Sundial Body Image Facilitator, having started as a volunteer with the charity when she was 17. Having grown up in a time where online pornography is increasingly accessible and extreme, she is passionate about the need to equip young people with honest, comprehensive, and up-to-date sex and relationships education. She currently lives and studies in Manchester, where she volunteers for George House Trust who provide support and awareness for people living with HIV.
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Babs is a Sundial Anti-FGM Facilitator and Community Nurse based in Oxford and a survivor of FGM. She is originally from the Gambia in West Africa and her passion is to use her experience of FGM to fight against harmful practices. She has worked with professionals and communities to raise awareness and encourage them to use shared knowledge and understanding to help end FGM. She is also a Survivor Ambassador for Savera UK.
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Fatou is a Sundial Anti-FGM Facilitator and dedicated gender activist who is known for her work in ethnically diverse communities to end FGM, domestic violence and other harmful practices. She has worked extensively with vulnerable migrant women, including refugees and asylum seekers, during her previous roles at Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Services as Outreach Officer and Refugee Resource as Women’s Service Coordinator. As a survivor of FGM, Fatou adds a powerful and authentic voice to the struggle to end FGM and other gender-based violence issues.
Before coming to the UK in 2006, Fatou was involved with women’s issues, working as a columnist at a local newspaper in the Gambia, addressing women’s rights and equality. She has an NVQ3 in Pharmacy Technician and holds a first-class degree in International Relations and Business Management. She is Secretary-General of Care for Women and Girls charity in Birmingham. In her free time, Fatou hosts live Facebook programmes on difficult conversations about issues affecting women and girls including FGM, polygamy, maternal mortality, sexual violence, breast cancer and objectification of women.
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Jhon, originally from Colombia, came to the UK as a refugee. He claimed asylum in 2020 due to extreme political riots, the Colombian internal war and sexual identity violence. Jhon holds a BA (Hons) degree in Language from the University of Nariño -Colombia and has over 6 years of experience in languages teaching in different countries, including Jamaica, Colombia, Ecuador, and England. He is currently studying a degree in Youth Work with Roehampton University and works with young people in Oxfordshire who experience mental health issues, drug abuse, domestic violence, homophobia, racism, and bullying. Jhon has also worked to promote the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and is passionate about healthy activities like sports, arts, music, and dance.
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Monica is a Sundial Facilitator, with expertise in body image and social media. She is currently the Marketing Manager for Retail Market Group and has worked within the marketing field at Oxford Brookes University as Social Media Officer and Community Engagement Officer. Monica is currently pursuing a PhD at Queen Mary University of London, specialising in the psychological impact of skin lightening products for South Asian women. Monica’s research for her MSc focused on colourism and body identity which was later published by Shades of Noir in ‘Biological Pigment Bias: Perspectives on Colourism’. Monica is passionate about fighting against stigmas in South Asian communities and empowering women and girls.
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Sobia is a Sundial Facilitator and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead for Oxford City Council. She previously worked in education for Oxford Brookes University for over 26 years, supporting under-represented groups to access higher education. Sobia is passionate about tackling issues that some South Asian families consider “taboo” subjects, including forced marriage, first-cousin marriage, fertility, disability and adoption. She has a degree in International Relations.
Sobia has led projects that have won several awards for Oxford Brookes University and was a guest speaker at the Step Up Conference, an event to inspire Black and Minority Ethnic students. Her projects have included a mentoring project for young people at the Oxford Central Mosque to improve attainment in Maths and English and confidence at school. In 2012 she was nominated by the university to attend the Queen’s Garden Party in recognition of her exceptional personal achievements and work in the community. Sobia devotes a huge amount of time to serving her local community and helps run a liberal Islam weekend club for young people in Oxford. Sobia and her husband have two children, adopted from an orphanage in Pakistan and they regularly raise money for the orphanage. Sobia also fundraises for national thalassemia charities and helps raise awareness of the disorder which affects people from India and South-East Asia.
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Sabrena is a Sundial Facilitator for our workshop on Cousin Marriage and Genetic Conditions and helped create our film on this subject. She is currently studying Psychology at university. Sabrena was born in Karachi and came to England in 2004, after her parents adopted her from an orphanage when she was only a few days old. Sabrena has thalassemia and helps raise awareness about this illness and the risks of cousin marriage. She loves horses and spending time with friends.
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Keisy is a Sundial Body Image Facilitator and studying Politics and International Relations at Bristol University. She is passionate about consent, female sexual liberty, and bringing about equality for ethnically diverse and LGBTQIA+ communities in all sectors of society. Keisy was introduced to Sundial through volunteering to join an open conversation on the sex education system in the UK and discussing ways to improve it for future students. Since then, she has helped build a processional piece for Cowley Carnival, participated in and transcribed some of the Web Café webinars and helped share messages against harmful practices.
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Zahid is a Sundial Facilitator on ‘honour’- based abuse issues. He is the Principal and Chief Executive of EMBS Community College in Oxford and Banbury, supporting young people and adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to enhance their wellbeing and learning. He has worked with the College since 2011 and is a strong believer in inclusive, quality education that engages, inspires and delivers.
For over twenty years, Zahid has taken leadership roles in organisations which strive to support socially excluded groups through the not-for profit sector. His academic background includes an Honours Degree in Philosophy and Psychology and Post Graduate Diploma in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool and Masters in Educational Psychology at the University of Manchester and Masters in Educational Leadership from Oxford Brookes University in addition to studying Traditional Islamic Sciences in the UK and in the Middle East. He is also a Trustee for Oxfordshire Youth.
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Naseem is a Sundial Anti-HBA Facilitator and previous Trustee. She is an experienced, broadly qualified Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Trainer and Facilitator, with expertise in child welfare and engaging with families. She has knowledge of cultural diversity in migrant communities and language skills in English (mother tongue), Punjabi and Hindi. Naseem’s areas of interest and experience include child sexual harm and exploitation and ‘honour’-based abuse.
Naseem is a Counselling Manager for Survivor Space (previously Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre) and a clinical supervisor for MIND. She is an accredited therapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN), and she is a trainee practice lead for the centre of expertise in child sexual abuse.
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Moram is a Sundial Anti-FGM Facilitator and has a Masters Degree in Development Studies, with reference to gender, from SOAS University of London.
Moram previously worked for CARE International. She has experience volunteering in orphanages and delivering nutrition projects to vulnerable women and girls in rural states in Sudan. She has also volunteered for the European Commission Office in Khartoum and Landell Mills where she focused on capacity building in rural states. Moram believes strongly in raising awareness through education to empower women and girls and eradicate harmful practices globally.
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Nesreen is a Sundial Anti-FGM Facilitator, paediatrician and campaigner against FGM from Egypt. She previously worked as a GP in Egypt, at a state health centre in one of the poorest rural areas of the country. In this role, Nesreen was regularly asked to carry out FGM as a “medical procedure”. She did of course refuse and these requests gave her an opportunity to raise awareness about the harms and risks involved in FGM with individual families. She also worked with various NGOs, bringing health education to rural communities. Nesreen then moved to Oxfordshire and currently works as a locum paediatrician. Nesreen has a special interest in delivering FGM education for medical professionals.
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Lea is a trained Trauma-Informed Psychologist and a survivor of child and spiritual abuse. Drawing from her lived experiences, she brings a unique perspective to her work with vulnerable communities. Lea has provided psychological support to individuals who have experienced abuse, creating spaces for healing and recovery.
She has also led support groups for survivors of abuse and facilitated training sessions on recognising and addressing abuse in children and vulnerable adults. She has experience training professionals, including educators, social workers, and healthcare providers, to recognise signs of abuse and trauma, and to offer support from a trauma-informed lens.
Originally from India, Lea’s cultural background shapes her approach and helps her connect with individuals from different communities. She includes a culturally sensitive perspective in her work, recognising how culture influences the experience and understanding of trauma.
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Imran is a trained psychotherapist, behavioural psychologist, trainer, racial justice campaigner and educator. He regularly delivers training on the intersections of race and gender; men, ‘honour’-based abuse and forced marriage; spiritual abuse; the psychologisation of the PREVENT agenda; white nationalism, incels and online hate. He is a guest lecturer for the University of Bradford and Nottingham Trent Universities.
Imran is also the Founder of Breaking the Silence, a psychotherapeutic programme founded in West Yorkshire, but now operating nationally. Breaking the Silence supports male survivors, from racialised communities, who experienced trauma and abuse in childhood. Over 1000 men have accessed their services since their inception in 2012.
Imran is a specialist in Holocaust Education and its contemporary relevance (e.g. PREVENT, Windrush) and has worked in collaboration with several institutes, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, to improve the standard of their English language programmes and remove/improve language that upholds structures of inequality. He is a board member of the Ministry of Justice’s funded Male Survivor Partnership and has worked in a consultancy role for both the Ministry of Justice (Victims Bill consultations) and the Home Office (updating the Male Survivor Position Statement that is incorporated in the VAWG strategy).
Imran is an experienced speaker, having appeared across a range of platforms, from academia to national radio. He is a frequent guest on podcasts marketed to South Asian audiences, focusing on mental health and masculinity, including We Hear You (Power, Socialisation, and Gender): Empower & Enable.
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Leethen has worked in frontline social work and is a safeguarding expert specialising in female genital mutilation and other harmful practices. He previously worked as the Head of the National Female Genital Mutilation Centre in the UK. He works internationally as a trainer and consultant on safeguarding children and harmful practices. Leethen has a PhD in Social Work and Social Care and a special interest in spiritual abuse.
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Caroline was previously Chair of Sundial (2018-2024) and is an International Development Consultant, specialising in women’s empowerment and gender equality issues. She has more than 30 years’ experience working for former-DFID, World Bank, CARE, PLAN and many other aid agencies. For five years she was volunteer Research Co-ordinator with 28 Too Many, which has now merged with the end-FGM Orchid Project. In 2024 Caroline produced briefing notes for Orchid on the prevalence and law relating to FGM/C in ten Asian countries. Caroline is also a trustee for Tools for Self-Reliance, an international NGO that supports vocational skills training in six African countries, and a Research Associate with Security Women which supports the international Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
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Liz was previously a Co-Chair of Sundial and had a 25-year career in the emerging digital industry working both in the UK and abroad. She now runs a coaching consultancy and a charitable foundation and has a special interest in helping to work against FGM. She is also a founder member of ‘The Funding Network Oxford’. Liz’s passion outside work is to help young people with business planning and establishing their own businesses. She loves innovation and is interested in world politics.
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Seiza currently works as an Independent Chair and Independent Reviewing Officer for Oxfordshire County Council. Born in Sudan, Seiza’s first degree was in Diet Therapy and she then worked for Almannar, an NGO aiming to empower women in Sudan by tackling FGM and early marriage. During this time, Seiza worked with women from displaced camps and rural areas but later had to flee to the UK as an asylum seeker, feeling the persecution of the then-government in Sudan.
Seiza graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2007 as a Social Worker and began her UK career in the Oxfordshire Children and Families Assessment Team. In 2012, Seiza was appointed as Senior Practitioner, managing the duty desk in Oxford city and was one of the lead practitioners for FGM in the county.
Seiza’s late mother, along with her colleagues (Members of the Sudanese Women Union) worked hard fighting against FGM and made the decision not to allow their daughters to go through this experience. Seiza was raised to be proud that she had not had FGM, despite all the bullying and the name calling she experienced as a child. Seiza is a mother of two children.
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Sharon (MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG, DFFP, DCH) is the primary care representative at the Oxfordshire FGM group and acts as a college representative for FGM for the Royal College of General Practitioners. Sharon is a GP partner in Oxford at the Donnington Medical Partnership. She is a qualitative researcher, having been involved in qualitative research on primary care perspectives on pathways to care across a range of service needs (including using diagnostic tests, safeguarding, domestic violence and abuse, endometriosis, and FGM), research on understanding and improving equity in research, and research on partnership priority setting for technology development in women’s health.
Sharon is currently an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow, undertaking a mixed-methods research study seeking to improve the evidence base for managing adolescent period pain in primary care. She was part of a team running a series of patient and public involvement events to explore community and professional perspectives on research and service priorities in FGM, which culminated in a multi-disciplinary conference under the auspices of the Sheila Kitzinger Programme. She has co-developed a learning resource for primary care professionals about FGM and supports patients and communities who may be affected by FGM. She is a member of the Oxford Refugee Health Initiative project.
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Ahd is a young Trustee and representative of the Oxford Sudanese community. She has participated in Sundial projects from the age of 13, since the charity started, and won a Volunteer’s Award. Ahd helped deliver lessons for her peers at Cherwell School. She has a Law Degree from the London School of Economics and is at the start of her career in practicing law.
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Miranda is Communications Manager for Women in Prison. She previously worked as Communications Manager for Girls Not Brides and Orchid Project, an anti-FGM charity based in London. Prior to joining Orchid Project, Miranda gained experience as a journalist, a marketer for Oxford University Press, and most recently in charity communications. She is passionate about women’s rights, and set up the Oxford branch of anti-street harassment organisation, Hollaback! Miranda holds an MSc in Modern Literature from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in English Literature from Newcastle University.
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Richard is a solicitor and Partner at Royds Withy King Goodman Solicitors in Oxford where he specialises in clinical negligence claims on behalf of Claimants and their families. Richard loves travel and experiencing different countries and cultures and is also a passionate follower of most sports, especially his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.