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The
Public Service Excellence Jewel Award:
Yaser
Mir is a Senior Lecturer in
Community Engagement & Cohesion at the Centre for
Ethnicity and Health at the University of
Central Lancashire. He is also a Senior Manager with the
Metropolitan Police Service, providing strategic guidance on
policing, community safety and serious & organised crime. Yaser
is also developing community-led approaches to preventing extremism
and fostering better relations between Muslim communities, the police
and the government. Previously, Yaser was the Home Office Drug
Interventions Lead managing a National Programme to engage BME drug
misusing offenders. During this time, Yaser worked with the Prison
Service and prisoners to build mutual understanding, for which he won
a national Race and Diversity Award in 2006. Yaser Mir joined the
University of Central Lancashire in 2003 as a research fellow,
providing support to establish community-led drugs projects across
England. He also worked with the Department of Health, providing
management and strategic advice to community and voluntary
organisations on tackling drugs.
Dr
Mohammed Ali OBE, Founder of QED-UK,
was born in Pakistan and came to live in Bradford in 1969. He
studied Chemistry at Huddersfield University and Business
Administration at Bradford School of Management. For ten years, he
held senior posts with Bradford Community Relations Council; Tameside
Metropolitan Borough Council; Sheffield City Council and at
Fullemploy - a national economic development charity. In 1990, he
founded QED-UK to work towards a harmonious and cohesive society in
which opportunity is not dependent on ethnic origin, race, religion
or gender. It is now the leading ethnic minority provider of
education, training and employment supported by the government and
major businesses. The charity has won several national awards
including runner up to UK Charity of the Year Award. For his 25
years' contributions, amongst many other accolades, he was awarded
the Professor Charles Handy Alchemist Award; honorary doctorate by
Bradford University; and an OBE in 2001.
Baroness
Sayeeda Warsi is Shadow Minister
for Community Cohesion and Social Action and is a member
of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet at the House of Lords. She is a
former Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party and is Shadow Minister
for the City of Sheffield. Sayeeda was instrumental in the launch of
Operation Black Vote in West Yorkshire in 1996 and stood as a
candidate in the 2005 general election. She has always had a keen
interest in racial justice issues. For many years she was an
executive member of the Kirklees Racial Equality Council. She has
also been a speaker on issues as varied as forced marriages, prison
conditions and business network links at a national level. Sayeeda
regularly appears in the broadcast media, including BBC's Question
Time and Radio Four's Woman's Hour. Sayeeda has also written articles
for the national and regional press. In 2007, Sayeeda participated in
the successful mission to the Sudan to free UK teacher Gillian
Gibbons and has been named the most influential Asian woman in
politics by the BBC. Sayeeda was recently named the 2007 Asian
Personality of the Year and has appeared on the Carter Anderson Asian
Power 100 list. |
