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Speaking truth to power is easier said than done, but if we conceal the reality of our journeys, we become complicit in the structures that oppress us. Catch me on @BBCNewsnight talking about the difficulties I experienced as a PhD student @ucl. #phdchat
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pjj9/newsnight-16112020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pjj9/newsnight-16112020
"...when you have a number of multiple intersecting minority identities, you're carrying the burden of what each of those identities brings. And they combine and conflate and make it even more difficult for you." @BBCNews @BBCNewsnight https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54934953
As a BAME Muslim women from a low socio-economic background the lack of financial support available to me to complete a PhD meant I worked 5 jobs throughout my studies and applied to >2000 scholarships of which I was successful in 4 #PhDchat
I lost my main source of funding (employment) after I was discriminated for raising a safeguarding concern. @ucl told me my original funding plan was not robust enough, despite knowing how rare it was for someone from my background to be doing a PhD https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/31/muslim-teacher-wins-case-after-being-dismissed-over-911-footage
This is despite @ucl having a doctoral school fellowship designed to support PhD students who lost their funding due to unforeseen circumstances & a BAME student PhD fund which they set up to encourage more BAME students into academia. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/funding/financial-support/doctoral-school-fellowship
During #BLM @ucl denamed its buildings, one of which was the Pearson building where I was a student. What is the point of changing external architecture of buildings when the internal architecture continues to be discriminatory & oppressive? https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/jun/ucl-denames-buildings-named-after-eugenicists
Diversity and inclusion are buzzwords and no more. If I was white and middle class I do not believe I would have been treated the way I was. I really struggled, and in many ways continue to do so. My numerous complaints to @ucl have been ignored by senior provosts.
At a time in history when we need more BAME individuals in academia more than ever before, we cannot stand by and allow universities to subject us to such treatment. We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
