“My main responsibility is to ensure that all managers and supervisors across Imperial have the right skills and tools to support their teams.”
My journey has taken me from the beautiful landscape of Pakistan to the vibrant life of London. I studied at the prestigious UCL Institute of Education where I completed a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, Gender and International Development. This was one of the best educational experiences of my life. One thing led to the other and before I knew it I was working in higher education in the UK – something that I greatly enjoy!
My current role is Learning and Development Manager in the fantastic People and Organisational Development team. My main responsibility is to ensure that all managers and supervisors across Imperial have the right skills and tools to support their teams, throughout the employee life cycle. We offer a wide range of developmental opportunities, such as developing the skills and attributes of a highly effective manager, building high performing teams, having difficult conversations, increasing self-awareness, and emotional intelligence. Most recently, I have revamped the management development offer and introduced four levels of support for managers, from the basics to specialist support.
Prior to Imperial I was at UCL for more than 12 years, where I set up the National Network for Parents and Carers in Higher Education. It covers all sorts of topics like support for maternity, fathers’ mental health, baby loss, dealing with grief and loss, and raising responsible children.
I have received several national awards for my work in this area, including the Global Best Practice Award from the Women’s Internal Network and the Award for Best Staff Network from Diversity and Inclusion Leaders. It is something that I am very proud of, and it is a very gratifying and humbling experience to be able to make a difference to the life of a fellow parent or carer.
As a child, I grew up with several values taught to me by my wonderful parents. Two values were always at the top: being honest and being respectful. These values have stayed with me since then. As I joined Imperial and discovered the values, it was only natural that the values of integrity and respect resonated the most with me. On a day-to-day basis, it is so important for me to be respectful of my colleagues, their diverse backgrounds, religious beliefs, cultural norms, communication preferences, and even their right to privacy – not everyone wants a birthday shout-out!