Changing what counts as knowledge in academia
I founded the anti-racist health inequalities journal, Stolen Tools. The journal is dedicated to centring the voices of racialised minorities within health inequalities research. Stolen Tools challenges what counts as knowledge in academia, accepting empirical work, fables, poems, art, experiential pieces, campaigning articles, reviews and more. People apply saying who they are, what they want to say and why they are the person to say it. They are then paired with mentors to develop their ideas. We aim to resist the exploitation of academic publishing and everyone in our process is paid.
I am currently co-editing a Lancet series on human trafficking and health, where coordinate meaningful engagement. Through a Freedom Fund grant, we working with people with lived experience as co-writers, editors, advisors and more.
Improving mental health practitioners work with sanctuary seekers
This project created a guide for mental health professionals (psychologists and psychiatrists) working with Afghan sanctuary seekers. It did so by collating and synthesising pre-existing knowledge in the academic literature and Afghan organisations, and hosting a stakeholder consensus meeting on creating a guide. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and included the Afghan Charities Paiwand, the Afghan Academy and the Association of Afghan Health Professionals on its advisory board and employed a lived experience researcher. You can access the guide here. A training was developed from the guide, and used in NHS Trusts in England and Wales.
Supporting Violence-Affected Youth
As an Embedded Participatory Research Consultant with the Lambeth Peer Action Collective, I worked alongside young people in Brixton to deliver a major youth engagement project on violence and social change. Together, we piloted and refined creative research methods, including body mapping, neighbourhood drawing, and collaborative illustration. Peer researchers used these tools to facilitate workshops, conduct interviews, and lead outreach in local schools and youth groups, ultimately engaging over 300 young people across Lambeth. The project culminated in a research report and youth-authored manifesto for change.
