Dr Asha Akram
Dr Asha Akram, Senior University Teacher (Teaching and Scholarship) in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science
After completing her PhD at the University of Leicester in Neuroscience, Asha realised her passion was in teaching and delivering a quality education for students, and secured a teaching position at Sheffield. As a Senior University Teacher on the Teaching-Focused pathway, Asha has gone on to play a significant role in the design, development and delivery of modules across the Psychology curriculum helping to enhance the quality and reputation of programmes.
As the former Deputy Faculty Director of Education, she made substantial contributions to transforming quality assurance processes and enhancing the portfolio of programmes to include some new high-quality Postgraduate Taught programmes.
In her role, Asha established and led the Faculty of Science Student Voice Group to ensure strategic oversight and a coherent framework for student voice activities, and to provide a platform for sharing best practice.
Asha champions equality, diversity and inclusion at the University, regional and national levels and is involved in a number of initiatives including. She is co-chair of the Race Equality Charter Advisory Board, Equality Officer for Sheffield UCU, Sheffield lead for the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education, and sits on the AdvancedHE Athena Swan panel. Her colleagues commend her ongoing work
Asha reflects on her personal ethos and how that drives her work: “I have a real commitment and passion to drive forward changes in order to enhance what we do at the University, in terms of Education and community building. This often requires the courage to speak up and to challenge the status quo, even in times of resistance, in order to encourage reflection and growth. I think we should always strive to be better, to be more inclusive, to be more diverse and to really value and celebrate what everyone brings to the university, either as a member of staff or student. It is important that everyone who comes to the university feels that they have a place here.”
Thank you to all the women for taking the time to share their stories and reflections and for providing the information featured on these web pages.