Nadia Habashi

Dr Nadia Habashi

Lecturer

Department of Law & Criminology , Royal Docks School Of Business And Law

Dr Nadia Habashi FRSA is the Deputy Cluster Lead for Criminology, Justice and Policing and Senior Lecturer in the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London. She teaches on the Criminology/Criminal Justice and Policing Degrees at UEL and also supervises PhD students and is a Director of Studies. She is a Director of the Policing, Innovation Enterprise and Learning Centre (PIEL) at UEL. During the period 2018-2020 she led the review into allegations of Institutional Racism at the Westway Trust, North Kensington on behalf of Tutu Foundation UK (TFUK). The report was commended by Rt. Hon Lord Paul Boateng as being insightful and rooted in objective analysis and Lord Simon Wooley as being a watershed moment for the Westway Trust.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Race and Participatory Governance
  • PhD in Research Methods
  • BA (Hons)

Areas Of Interest

Criminology and Policing, Race discrimination in the Criminal Justice System, Racial Disproportionality, Participatory Governance, Community Engagement, Innovation in community engagement to improve CJS performance, Gender and the Criminal Justice System, International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ICERD, UNCERD International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women, Honour Based Violence, forced marriage, violence against women and girls.

Nadia Habashi

OVERVIEW

I was the researcher to Dr Richard Stone OBE panel member of the Macpherson Inquiry) undertaking research for his books into the Hidden Stories of the Lawrence Inquiry) via the use of archival documents to which I am a specialist for his book Hidden Stories of Lawrence Inquiry. I am an Advisor to the National Black Police Association.

I like people and enjoy seeing the transformation of my students from the start of their studies to their graduation. Education is empowerment and through my teaching, I am to empower all my students with not just knowledge but improving their confidence about themselves and their capabilities. I am committed to purposeful research which has an impact on society and I have been very fortunate in my professional career to have led significant national and local pieces of work which have had a significant impact. My passion is around the intersection of politics, social policy and the criminal justice system. I am skilled at making sure that groups who are marginalised have their voices heard and improve policy and practice in the CJS and beyond. I am passionate about people's rights and am interested in the increasing push towards the erosion of rights and its impact on democracy and justice.

I have a proven track record in championing and advocating on issues of race and inclusion. During the period 2013-2018 she was the researcher to Dr Richard Stone OBE a panel member of the Macpherson Inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence and undertook archival research and edited his book, ‘The Hidden Stories of the Lawrence Inquiry’. During the period 2002-2013 she worked in the following Government Departments, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and Ministry of Justice (MOJ). 

I developed, established and embedded Race Scrutiny Panels in the Crown Prosecution Service West Yorkshire and commissioned an external independent evaluation an initiative which was recognised as national best practice and in 2007 she received a Justice Award for the development of the Panel. 

I am an advisor and researcher to the National Black Police Association and in 2023 was awarded the NBPA Presidents Award for significant impact, strategic guidance, advice and research capacity. She uses her considerable research, drafting skills and knowledge of the criminal justice system on a range of initiatives where she has championed and advocated on issues of inclusion and race. I have a PhD in Race and Participatory Governance and is an expert in race and the use of community engagement to improve performance of Criminal Justice Agencies.)

External roles

  • Advisor to the National Black Police Association

Industry partners

  • National Black Police Association

CURRENT RESEARCH

In 2018 I was approached to lead a review into Institutional Racism at the Westway Trust in North Kensington. This was a significant piece of work, which required me to work systematically and methodically to understand a complex organisation with deep historical links with the local authority, which had been viewed historically with suspicion and mistrust by members of the Black community which was in the shadows of the Grenfell Tower.

I identified early on that a core area of community concern was the perception that 24 acres of land under the Westway (A40) were given to the community by the local authority and that Black groups and communities had felt marginalised and discriminated against for over 40 years. By working with a large corporate pro bono law firm, I requested and reviewed the land deeds for the Westway Trust and established that this was not the case. I undertook 93 interviews and reviewed 19,000 documents. I developed an evidence-based approach to identify the prevalence of institutional racism within the Westway Trust by deconstructing the Macpherson definition of institutional racism into its core constituent parts and then cross-referenced evidence of institutional racism which I identified as part of the review of documents and interviews.

It was this evidence-based approach, which led to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Westway Trust, accepting the report and admitting the roles which they had played.

Research Centres

  • Policing Innovation Enterprise and Learning (PIEL)

PUBLICATIONS

MODULES

  • Research Methods - Level 6
  • Race Crime and Ethnicity - Level 6
  • Leadership Coaching and Mentoring - Level 6

Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository