Close up of Professor Siraj Sait

Professor Siraj Sait

Director

Director of Research

, Royal Docks School Of Business And Law

Siraj Sait is Professor of Law and Development at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. He has been Director of the Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity at UEL since 2019.

Areas Of Interest

  • Human Rights
  • Sustainable Development Goals
  • Gender Equality
  • Youth Participation
  • Covid, Conflict & Climate Change
  • Land, Housing, Urban Planning
  • Curriculum Development
  • Health Equity
  • Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • Technology and Innovation 
Close up of Professor Siraj Sait

OVERVIEW

Siraj Sait is a Harvard educated human rights lawyer, he served as public prosecutor and government legal advisor in India. With extensive UN experience, he is the co-creator of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) with over $50 million SDG projects and 80 partners. He currently also serves as co-chair of the UN-Habitat Stakeholder Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE) and member of the Advisory Group on Gender Issues (AGGI). He has also previously served as the chair of the UN Iraq Evaluation Mission and headed the Somalia Benadir Law Drafting Committee. He has experience of working in over 24 countries and has published widely with funding from UN, UKRI, GCRF, GLTN and NIHR.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Current Projects

Currently co-PI for a NIHR-funded project on Empowering Youth for Effective Participation in Health Decision-Making in Newham, working with young people and community partners in Newham to develop a new social contract. 

  • Project will involve designing youth-centred activities and constructing an evidence base for better understanding youth participation (i.e., developing a training module for ‘youth champions’ in Newham). 
  • 6 UEL Researchers, 9 Newham Experts, 30 Youth Champions, 300 Young People

PUBLICATIONS

UN Funded Projects

  • Co-organised Global Land Tool Network’s Gender Strategy (2019-2030) - Operationalising gender and youth responsive land tools through Gender Evaluation Criteria. Evaluation of GLTN programme found that its land tools benefitted over 50,000 households.
  • Project with RMIT, NUST and other partners on "Land Tenure and Climate Vulnerability" (2020-2023) The aim was to highlight some of the complex and inter-linked challenges facing marginalised communities and signpost possible pathways to positive change, with case studies exploring differing land tenure and climate vulnerability contexts in different parts of the developing world.
  • UN Funding for curriculum development in North Africa on Land Administration (2020-2023) "Delivering a Structured Knowledge Base on Responsible Land Administration". Supported by Network of Excellence and Land Governance in Africa and Arab Land Initiative.

Publications

  • Should Monrovian Communities Agree to Voluntary Slum Relocations: Land, Gender and Urban Governance in R Home (ed) Land Issues for Urban Governance in Sub- Saharan Africa 351-368 London: Springer (2020), Sait S 
  • The Land Rights, Climate Justice and Gender Equality Conundrum: Human Rights Strategies and Practice 4:2 African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences pp. 96- 105 (2021), Sait S 
  • 'Fit-for-purpose land administration for community resilience in a time of climate change and Covid pandemic', special edition on Fit-for-purpose land administration, Land journal 144-163 (2021) Mitchell D, Barth B, McEvoy and Sait S 
  • Land Based Finance for Sustainable Development in Africa: Challenges and Prospects, 3;4 African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences pp. 114-137 (2020), Sait S
  • 'Mental Health and Wellbeing Implications of the COVID-19 Quarantine for Disabled and Disadvantaged Children and Young People: Evidence from a Cross- cultural Study in Zambia and Sierra Leone' BMC Psychology (2021), Sharpe D, Rajabi M, Chileshe C, Sitali M, Sesay I, Williams J and Sait S
  • Land Tenure Systems in North Africa: A Scoping Study Methodological Framework (NELGA: GIZ 2020), M. El-Ayachi, H. a. Essam Khalil, O. Wague, Et. Ganawa, S. El Azrak, S. Saidi, S. Sait and N. Zouhiri
  • The Paradox of Islamic Land Governance and Gender Equality in UE Chigbu, Land Governance and Gender: The Tenure-Gender Nexus in Land Management and Land Policy CABI: Wallingford, UK, (2021) Sait S and Sait A
  • Gender Inclusive Cities and Human Rights (2020), UN Habitat, UN High Commission for Human Rights and Geneva Human Rights Platform, Lead EGM Paper, Geneva: OHCHR/UN-Habitat

External Roles

  • Co-Chair, UN Habitat Stakeholder Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE)
  • Member, UNH Advisory Group on Gender Issues (AGGI)
  • Co-Founder and Chair, Global Land Tool Network Academic and Training Cluster (GLTN)
  • Member, Newham BAME Socio Economic Task & Finish Group

TEACHING

Professor Siraj Sait has taught law at UEL, at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for over 25 years. He currently leads and teaches on the following postgraduate courses:

  • LA7002 - International Human Rights
  • LA7004 - International Refugee Law

MSc International Relations

Understand global politics, state and inter-state relations. Delve into international relations, global inequalities, power and environmental risks.

Study International Relations

MA Conflict, Displacement and Human Security

We will help you develop skills and understanding to prepare for employment in conflict management and resolution, humanitarian assistance and development, human rights, and social justice.

Read more about this course

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS

Professor Siraj Sait is regularly called upon to organise, chair and present at events, roundtables, conferences, and high-level meetings around the world in his capacity as Co-Chair of UN SAGE and Director of the Noon Centre.

2023

  • Presenter – UEL Impact and Innovation Conference (30th June 2023)
  • Co-Organiser and Host – UN Expert Group Meeting on Gender Strategy and Youth Participation on Land Rights (15-17th June 2023)
  • Organiser - Official side event at the UN Habitat Assembly “How to develop a multi-stakeholder social contract for effective delivery of the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs” (5th June 2023). 
  • Co-chair-convener - Global Stakeholder Forum, with over 600 registered delegates from all over the world at the 2nd UN Habitat Assembly (3-4th June 2023)

NOON CENTRE FOR EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

Inclusive Society, Fairer Economy, and Sustainable Communities

UEL’s Noon Centre of Equality and Diversity is a leading global hub for equality and diversity, human rights, development, and inclusive cities. with its current director, Professor Siraj Sait serving as co- chair of UN Stakeholder Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE). Noon Centre research, engagement and policy contributions have strengthened global strategies for inclusive, gender and age responsive, safe, and prosperous urban communities. Along with Professor Siraj Sait, the Noon Centre has a co-director, Dr Shampa Roy Mukherjee and 3 Associate Directors. The Advisory Board comprises of a 6-member steering committee, 30 UEL members, 40 external partners.

The Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity was founded in 2012 as a pan institutional platform focusing on diversity, excellence and leadership for students, scholars, at the workplace and in society, through the vision of philanthropist Lord Ghulam Noon (Kt. MBE). The Noon Centre carried out successful initiatives such as Global Scholars, Young Black and Ethnic Professionals, and the Global Equality and Diversity Awards. Noon Centre brings together the UEL community of researchers, students, and partners to address emerging challenges in creating a more equal, fairer, healthier, peaceful, and prosperous world.

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

  • Sait, S. and Abdelkafi, R. (2017)

    Islamic Municipal Finance in: Sait, S. and Abdelkafi, R.Finance for City Leaders Handbook: Improving Municipal Finance to Deliver Better Servies. UN-Habitat, pp.166-191

    Book chapter