Welcome, Safina!

headshot of Safina

In March, Dr Safina Islam joined us as the new Head of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust.

Safina succeeds our director and education coordinator Jackie Ould, who had been involved in the organisation since its inception and who retired last August. Jackie worked closely with Professor Lou Kushnick, then a University of Manchester lecturer in sociology and American studies, to establish the Centre in 1998.

Safina joins us from the public programmes team at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, where she was a communities and inclusion specialist. Prior to that, she spent two years as chief officer at Ananna, the Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation, where she has recently been elected chair.

Safina said: “It is a privilege to join such a unique organisation; one that is pioneering in its mission to provide an inclusive space for BAME communities to collect their own stories, and shape how their own narrative is recorded.

“This is an interesting time to be joining the heritage and library sector and I am keen to build on the legacy left by Jackie and Lou to ensure we continue to listen, challenge and grow.”

With a background in biomedicaI science, Safina obtained a PhD from The University of Manchester in 2000, and then moved into public health/health inequalities-focused research and policy development.

She was responsible for leading the first national review of race equality in health and social care as head of equality and human rights at the then Health Care Commission.

Safina is a trustee of BigLife Group and an independent member of the Our Manchester forum.

We look forward to working with her to maintain and grow the organisation!