Amna Farooq

I first learned to think seriously about how power and policy shape lives when studying the Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. This thinking became practice when I went on to work in policy and advocacy at think tanks including MLegal and Equi, where I saw how research - argued well and pushed hard enough - can create positive and tangible change.

Ibn Khaldun argued that societies hold together on the strength of the bonds between their people - bonds built on shared understanding and not just shared geography. Policy is where that understanding is written into people's lives: how a family accesses public services and how a community is heard —  or isn't —  in the rooms where decisions are made. When the worldviews shaping those rooms are narrow, so are the policies that come out of them. That is why representation is not a courtesy, but a necessity. It is also why I am eager to study Public Policy to ensure that policy is shaped by people who reflect the country it serves.