Dr. Afzal Khan CBE MP is the Labour Member of Parliament for Manchester Rusholme, elected in 2024 after previously representing Manchester Gorton (2017, 2019). He has served in key roles including Shadow Minister for Immigration, Shadow Foreign Office Minister, and Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. In 2023, he resigned from his position to vote for a ceasefire in Gaza. Dr. Khan is the Parliamentary Chair of the Labour Muslim Network and holds leadership roles in several All-Party Parliamentary Groups, including those on British Muslims, Pakistan, and Poverty. He was previously a member of the European Parliament and the first Asian Lord Mayor of Manchester. For his contributions to community cohesion, he was awarded a CBE in 2008, and Pakistan’s Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam in 2018. Dr. Khan also holds honorary doctorates from Government College University, Lahore, and Mirpur University of Science and Technology, and is an Honorary Professor at Astana International University.
Attiq Anwar holds a Master’s degree from Royal Holloway University of London and has served as a Senior Parliamentary Assistant in the British Parliament. His professional interests focus on politics, with experience supporting parliamentary processes and contributing to legislative work in the UK political system.
Dr. Sania Muneer is an academic and researcher specializing in pro-women legislation, women in armed conflicts, and governance and politics in Pakistan. She previously served as an Assistant Professor at the School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. Dr. Muneer holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences, with part of her degree completed at Royal Holloway University of London. She also completed a post-doctorate at SOAS University of London. As a former Digital Humanities fellow through a partnership between the American Institute of Pakistan Studies and universities in North Carolina, she is currently researching Pakistan’s blasphemy laws from a historical and socio-legal perspective. Dr. Muneer has presented her research at leading institutions, including Oxford, Cambridge, Royal Holloway, Duke University, North Carolina University, and Mahidol University in Thailand. She has authored several articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Dr. Saroj Aryal is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw. He has completed his PhD in International Relations. During the last four years, he has published multiple research articles in high-indexed (Q1, Q2) SCOPUS-indexed international journals such as Geopolitics, Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Society, and Journal of Asian and African Studies. His areas of interest include India’s foreign policy, South Asia, security complexities in the Asia-Pacific region, and the polarity and the rise of the Global South in the international system. He has been part of many international conferences including Binghamton University, New York, Dublin City University, Dublin, Syracuse University, Syracuse, Charles University, and Prague. He has signed an agreement with Routledge to published his two books respectively in November 2024 and April 2024. Currently, 14 of his articles are in difference phases of review which will be published in 2024 and 2025.
Dr. Uzair Amjad, Ph.D. in Sociology from Monash University, Australia, is an accomplished scholar with over eight years of research experience in public policy, qualitative research, and social disruptions. His work focuses on the intersections of gender, power, and state policies, exploring how political structures shape identity, masculinity, and social justice, particularly within marginalized communities. As an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Dr. Amjad brings a critical, interdisciplinary approach to peace studies, contributing valuable insights into policy development, conflict resolution, and societal transformation, with an emphasis on creating more equitable and just governance frameworks.
