BEng Civil Engineering. Class of 1995.
Director International Strategy, Engagement & Devolution, Home Office
How did you end up at Swansea University?
I was born and brought up in Birmingham and went to school in Solihull. I ended up at Swansea by going through clearing. I wanted to go to a university where I could play rugby, so Swansea was an obvious choice. Once there, the natural beauty of the Gower, the local community and especially the University Mosque community made me feel at home instantly.
You studied Civil Engineering at Swansea. How did that prepare you for a career in the Civil Service?
The BEng isn’t necessarily an obvious path to the Civil Service, but it does give you a fantastic grounding in technical and analytical skills. I then stayed on at Swansea University to do post graduate study and research in International Relations, with a particular focus on Middle east security.
How did you career progress to become a senior member within the Home Office?
In 2002 I joined the Civil Service in the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) as a race a religion advisor. I then went on to Head the Equalities Unit before taking the lead for the Wales Community Cohesion Strategy.
I became the first Prevent Coordinator for WAG and developed the Prevent Strategy and Prevent delivery plan. In 2009 I joined the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) at the Home Office as a Community Advisor and was then appointed to my first SCS position as Deputy Director of Prevent.
In 2011, I took a one-year secondment to the global security giant G4S, to provide counter terrorism consultancy in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. In 2012 I returned to the Home Office as Director of Information Management and Compliance at UKVI.
I eventually took up the post of Deputy Director of the Asylum Taskforce and I’m now the Deputy Director of the International and Domestic Engagement and Strategy Directorate, UK Domestic,
Overseas, Americas and 5Eyes Unit. The job takes me all around the world as I engage with UK partners on intelligence sharing, counter terrorism and cyber threats.
It sounds like your job keeps you very busy. What do you do with your spare time?
It does keep me very busy, but there is also time to do other things. In a voluntary capacity I run Islamic knowledge classes and I also occasionally deliver Friday sermons at various locations in the UK, including at Swansea University. I also find time to keep in touch with my friends from Swansea Uni, especially the Rugby boys. A large group of us are all still in touch and we plan to be back in Swansea for a mini reunion later in the year.
You’ve mentioned the Mosque community at the University as being important to you and you’ve stayed in touch ever since. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
My Muslim faith is deeply personal and spiritual, and the mosque is the centre of the community in my faith. I would have followed my faith whichever University I choose to study at but having a mosque on campus at Swansea just made life a bit easier in terms of balancing study with worship.
At the mosque it was very easy to meet other worshipers, they could be students like myself, or staff in the University or from the local community around Singleton Park. This made me feel settled in Swansea very quickly. The mosque also integrated well with the wider University community. It is not uncommon for Eid celebrations to include visitors from the Vice-Chancellors office or the staff in Singleton Abbey.
How would describe your Swansea University experience in as few words as possible?
Amazing! Life-changing and to be forever cherished.
