Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Associate Professor in Psychology
- IOE - Social Research Institute
- UCL Institute of Education
I am an Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Psychology based at the UCL Social Research Institute and have lived and worked both in the UK and abroad. Following the completion of my MPhil and PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge (supervised by Professor Susan Golombok), I joined UCL. Prior to this I was based at the Lahore University of Management Science in Pakistan. As well as research and public engagement work, I am involved in teaching and supervising master's and doctoral students. I am a chartered member of the British Psychological Society.


As a Social and Cultural Psychologist, I study children, young people and families. My 2 broad areas of research interest are:
1) Migration & Minority Groups: I am interested in identity and migration experiences of families and young people, including how they engage with institutions in new settings. I am also interested in citizenship rights and activism in minority groups. In particular, how individuals forge a sense of community under adverse circumstances (including political instability & climate change).
2) Creative Health: I am interested in how arts and creative practices can help foster wellbeing. This includes with teenagers and children with mental health difficulties and individuals living with trauma.
Methodological Approach
I work across disciplines (including psychology, sociology & history) and use traditional mixed research methods as well as arts, visual and film-based methods (including documentary research). I work with museum practitioners, artists, and policy groups.
Summary of Current Research Projects
The first is my AHRC funded project (with Dr Anushay Malik) titled: 'Partition of Identity: An exploration of Belonging in Bengalis in Pakistan, 1971- present'. Our project explores lived experiences of Pakistani Bengalis in Pakistan (arriving after 1971), many of whom have been denied citizenship rights. We draw from social psychology, history & arts.
The second is a British Academy funded study (with Drs Katherine Twamley & Charlotte Faircloth) titled Families and Community in the Time of Covid 19 (FACT-Covid). Our 10 country study explores how families globally coped with Covid-19.
Summary of Past & Ongoing Projects
- Child Language Brokering - I study experiences of migrant young people who interpret & translate for their families. I completed a related AHRC study in 2018 with Professor. Sarah Crafter
- Between Spaces: Museums and Mental Wellbeing in Young People & FLOCK: The Art of Ceramics in fostering Wellbeing in Displaced Groups with South London & Maudsley NHS Trust (UCL Grand Challenge funded studies on Cultural Heritage and Wellbeing)
- Children & Adults Friendships across Social Class & Ethic Difference, An ESRC study with Professors Carol Vincent & Sarah Neal
- Parenting & Child Development in Multi-Ethnic Britain - Doctoral Research
I teach across a number of courses at UCL at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, and lead two modules for the BSc in Social Science degree.
These are:
- SOCS0023- Foundations of Psychology I
- SOCS0027 Families in Society
I am Study Abroad Tutor at the UCL Social Research Institute
PhD Applications:
I welcome applications for PhDs in the areas of:
- migration & identity
- minority groups & belonging (including statelessness & citizenship)
- young people, families & climate change
- creative health
- urban diversity
- parenting & intergenerational relationships
- psychosocial studies
- Social Representation Theory
- qualitative & mixed methods (including arts and film based methods)
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