Supporting British Muslims into Higher Education to better society
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About Us
The Aziz Foundation is a family charitable foundation established to nurture confident, articulate public leaders of Muslim background who are able to critically engage with public narratives and address the social challenges facing British Muslim communities and wider society.
Ladan Abdulle studied for an LLM Law, specialising in Public Law at UCL, as part of the Aziz Foundation’s 2020-21 scholarship cohort. Ladan focused on European union law, refugee law and international human rights law during her studies at UCL. She based her thesis on the impact of the EU-Turkey deal on refugees, in particular the illegality of the actions taken by the EU, Turkey and Greece in refouling and pushing back refugees, contrary and in violation of international law.
Ilyas Nagdee is currently studying for a MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Sussex. He is the former NUS Black Students' Officer where he represented 1.5 million students of colour and led campaigns focused on tackling racism on campus, combatting the Prevent Duty and decolonising the academy. He was a member of the Stop Trump Coalition which organised the 250'000 person demonstration against Trump's visit to London. He has been published across the press including in the Guardian, Huffpost and the Independent and featured on Sky News, ITV, Al Jazeera and more.
As an interdisciplinary researcher and visual artist, Taqwa is interested in how film, art, and design can be used to explore historical and post-colonial notions of identity, Islam, and social-spatial organisation. During her BA Middle Eastern Studies (University of Cambridge), she realised that the rewriting of colonially-informed narratives is essential to challenge assumptions and foster more nuanced, critical thinking within British Muslim and wider non-Muslim communities.
Ibrahim's aim is to establish a legacy which benefits Muslims in education, empowering them to make positive contributions to society whilst preserving their Islamic identity. Having completed hisundergraduate in English Language and Linguistics, he became interested in how education systems work and how current policies that disadvantage Muslim students can be tackled within educational settings. This led him to pursue a PGCE, wherein he recognised that Muslim students are confronted by a plethora of unique social challenges.
As a Public Affairs and Policy professional within the Children’s sector, Alia is responsible for championing children’s rights to security and safety by using research, case studies and expertise to influence government policy on health, education and safety for children. Her job is to provide the paramount support that the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in society require, in particular British Muslims. British Muslim children are disproportionately disadvantaged due to systemic racism, Islamophobia and continue to live below the poverty line, which further hinders their future chances of bettering their lives as the future generation.
Mustakim is continually touched by the very personal stories behind each person who he is privileged to meet through hiswork in journalism, be this as part of BBC documentaries he helps develop and produce, or investigative features he made alongside my BA English Language and Linguistics degree. Every story told is one step forward in the interests of helping to show audiences what's really going on in the world - the good, bad, and the ugly.
Fatima Ahmed is studying for an MA in International Law under the 2021-22 cohort at SOAS. Her interest in diversity and inclusion stemmed from her time studying BA Politics at the University of York, where she was elected as the Black and Asian minority ethnicity officer for Constantine College. She held various seminars aimed at generating awareness of the BAME experience and issues faced by British Muslims that form as part of this community.
Having completed his undergraduate studies in Arabic and International Relations and engaged in interfaith dialogue over several years, Rakin has long been interested in the importance of language and communication. He believes that in order to effectively challenge misrepresentative narratives of marginalised communities, Muslims must first understand how these narratives come to exist in the first place.
The Aziz Foundation partners with universities by offering scholarships schemes for British Muslims hoping to pursue postgraduate study at the Masters level.
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