ESRC-funded PhD Researcher — University of Manchester
- Topic: why progressives are losing the argument on asylum
- Methods: focus groups; interviews; mixed-methods case studies
Overview
I am a PhD researcher and communications professional with expertise in influencing public opinion and government policy.
I project managed the Refugee Council’s re-brand, which repositioned the charity to communicate with people who are ambivalent about asylum.
My audience-centred approach was vital to securing multiple policy changes, including our award-winning campaign to re-start the asylum system.
I have funding from the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council to investigate why progressives are losing the argument on asylum.
Recent Experience
Senior Insights and Strategic Communications Officer — The Refugee Council
- Generate audience insights by commissioning polling and conducting focus groups, surveys and 1:1 interviews
- Employ audience insights to shape the Refugee Council’s media, policy and fundraising campaigns, including successful campaigns to scrap the plan to send refugees to Rwanda, re-start the asylum system, and give refugees more time to find housing
- Produce key messages, draft op-eds and advise media spokespeople
- Brief and advise decisionmakers and thought-leaders on audience insights and messaging
Brand and Insights Projects Coordinator — The Refugee Council
- Project managed the Refugee Council’s re-brand, focusing on repositioning the charity to communicate better with people who are ambivalent about asylum
- Developed a new strategic communications framework for the charity using original focus group, interview and polling data alongside secondary literature
Families Together Campaign Coordinator — Families Together Coalition
Steering group: Amnesty International UK, British Red Cross, Oxfam GB, UNHCR, Refugee Council, STAR, VOICES Network.
- Managed a coalition of 100 organisations campaigning to improve family reunion rights for refugees
- Successfully pressured the government to create a pathway to reunite lone Afghan children in the UK with their families
- Developed strategic partnerships with ‘unlikely allies’, including mainstream children’s charities and the veterans’ charity Help for Heroes
- Leveraged strategic partnerships to secure meetings with key decisionmakers and favourable media coverage, including in the Daily Mail, the Mirror and on ITV News
Communications and External Affairs Coordinator — Reset Communities and Refugees
- Managed external affairs for the charity contracted by the Home Office to grow the UK’s refugee sponsorship programme
- Designed and implemented Reset’s first public-facing campaign, making Reset the principal gateway to sponsorship
- Secured media coverage for sponsorship from Countryfile to BBC Breakfast, and grew Reset’s social media following
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Co-author, ‘Let’s tell a better story about the contribution made by refugees’, The Future of Asylum – A Vision for Renewal, Future Governance Forum, 2025.
- Panellist, ‘Shifting the narrative on refugees’, Refugee Council webinar series, November 2025.
- Keynote speaker, ‘Refugees, asylum and public opinion: where do we go from here?’, Annual Cassidy Memorial Lecture, Durham University, September 2025.
- Co-author, Families Belong Together: Fixing the UK’s Broken Family Reunion System, Refugee Council and Safe Passage International, 2023.
- Panellist, ‘Dispersal and displacement: exploring the relationship between citizenship and state-enforced mobilities in the UK’, Annual International Royal Geographical Society Conference, 2019.
- Contributor, Politics Behind Bars: The Effect of Political Engagement on Prisoners, OxPolicy, 2014.
Education
- MSc Migration, Mobility and Development — Distinction
- SOAS, University of London · 2017 – 2018
- BA Arabic and Islamic Studies — First Class
- University of Oxford · 2013 – 2017
Awards
- Winner, Best Policy Initiative, Third Sector Awards — the Refugee Council.
- Finalist, Media and Communications Team of the Year, Third Sector Awards — the Refugee Council.
- Shortlisted, PR Team of the Year, Charity Times Awards — the Refugee Council.
- Winner, Sociology Studentship, UKRI Economic and Social Research Council.
- Winner, Full Scholarship, SOAS University of London School of Social Sciences, awarded for academic merit.