Meet the Ambassadors

Women-Space Ambassadors are the wonderful people who have committed to supporting our mission of helping women to flourish in their higher-level careers. They have kindly enabled Women-Space to continue drawing on their collective wisdom so that we can in turn pass this on to the clients that we work with.

They share their time generously because they believe in the importance of supporting women to have the best career and professional life possible.

As Ambassadors, they bear no responsibility for the content of this website, the views expressed, or any of the materials produced.

  • I am a legal academic who has held a variety of leadership roles in universities at every level from departmental to the Senior Leadership Team. I am currently Professor of Law Emerita at Keele University where I was previously Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Student Experience). I am also Deputy Chair of Governors at De Montfort University and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. I am an expert in legal education, and have published widely in the area. My approach is interdisciplinary, and I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Academy of Social Sciences. I have a longstanding record of service to my academic community and have been awarded both the Socio-Legal Studies Association Prize for Contribution to the Socio-Legal Community and an Annual Recognition Award by the Association of Law Teachers.

    Throughout my career I have used my expertise and experience to support colleagues (especially women) to fulfil their career ambitions. I have participated in formal mentoring schemes such as the Aurora programme, as well as offering long-term informal mentoring. My approach is collaborative and open, and focused on helping people to achieve their potential.

    More information about me can be here.

  • I’m a Global Executive Career Coach specialising in career transitions, career development, personal impact coaching, and international career mobility. I also have substantial experience of creating and delivering Leadership training and facilitation, and have a passion for developing highly talented individuals through mentoring, coaching and training.

    I bring significant experience to my role, having enjoyed 2 professional careers, and lived in 4 different countries (UAE, Australia, Canada and Belgium) to date. I had a successful 15-year career as a Barrister, running a busy civil practice, during which I was also responsible for management, strategy and business development for my leading set of Chambers.

    I have a further 12 years’ experience in management roles in Higher Education, the last 8 years of those at Warwick Business School working with globally-located MBAs and senior alumni up to Executive level, achieving substantial experience of coaching globally-mobile alumni through Career Transitions in a wide range of sectors and countries.

    I’ve recently embarked upon the ‘third act’ of my career, studying an MSc in the Psychology of Work, as well as embarking upon self-employment once more. I have a long-standing interest in Positive Psychology, Emotional Intelligence and the psychology of mental health and wellbeing, and how these shape people in the workplace, and in their ability to lead and engage others.

    Having experienced a career which was not a good fit for my interests, I’m passionate about helping others to find careers they truly enjoy. Clients describe my coaching style as naturally warm, positive, and motivational. I help clients to maximise their strengths, gain clarity on their goals, build their confidence and fulfil their potential. I consider myself fortunate that I now have a job I love!

    You can contact me or find out more about my experience and qualifications here.

  • I am an Associate Lecturer in Education and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham. I hold a PhD from the University of Warwick and Master's degree(s) from the London School of Economics and from Delhi School of Economics. My research interests are around Gender and Education, spanning UK and South Asian contexts. In recent years, my research and teaching have focussed on race and racism in the UK within a wider context of rising populism in the West. This has involved teaching and research around the ways colonialism has shaped knowledge production, understandings of gender and sexuality. I am particularly interested in 'Third world', decolonial, non-western feminist perspectives, and theorizations of gender. I am currently doing an innovative art-based research project on South Asian Women's experiences of accessing health care with NHS.

    You can find out more about Saba here.

  • I am a Senior Lecturer in Race at University of Bristol. My research and community activism interests are in the areas of gender, race and religion. Coming from Bangladesh and studying in Canada and the UK I am committed to learning about and supporting migrant women in the West.

    My research covers a wide range of interdisciplinary fields, from study of respectable femininity in Bangladesh to Muslim women’s representation in Bollywood to migrant South Asian women’s triple burden in UK academia.

    I am committed to decolonising curriculum and work actively in University of Bristol’s faculty Equality and Diversity committee. I am the faculty lead for Widening Participation.

    I work with Muslim Women’s Network UK and Women Empowered against Racism, Injustice, sexism and extremism (WeRise) Bristol.

    I am trained in BAME women’s leadership in academia.

    You can find out more about me here.

  • With over 25 years of experience in the field, I am currently the Director of Student Services at the University of Kent. I have previously held the roles of Head of Student Support and Wellbeing/Deputy Director of Student Services at Kent and Head of Student Support at the University of Aberdeen. I have managed a diverse range of services including, Disability, Counselling, Mental Health, Residential Life, Student Conduct and Complaints, Careers, International Student Support, and Financial Assistance, and have visited Universities in the US, Middle East and Australia, resulting in an international network of inspiring colleagues. I have led on the response to, and management of, many critical incident situations and have most recently led on the University’s COVID-19 case/outbreak management. I have been fortunate to have worked with colleagues and leaders with whom I have had a shared ethos of wishing to dismantle barriers and raise aspirations, particularly for those students who are inherently disadvantaged by our systems and structures.

  • I’ve lived my whole working life in universities because I love the possibilities education brings, both for students and for teachers. As a Humanities scholar, I prize the give and take that leads to new insights, whether the interlocutor is a student, a colleague, or indeed a poem or a novel. I bring this to my leadership style, which is based on a code of consultation, collaboration, and trust. Since 2010, I’ve held senior roles at a variety of universities, both research-intensive and teaching-led, during which I’ve learned that openness and transparency are only possible in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. I’m currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Gloucestershire, where I lead eight academic schools and oversee the entirety of the academic portfolio, ensuring it’s effective and meaningful for staff and students alike.

  • I am a GP and menopause specialist. I am an advisor to the NHS and on the Clinical Steering Committee for NHSEI’s Menopause Improvement Programme. I am also the director of Newson Health Ltd (www.newsonhealth.co.uk) I run a menopause and wellbeing centre in Stratford-upon-Avon which is the largest menopause clinic in the world. I have developed the menopause information website www.menopausedoctor.co.uk and the free menopause app “balance” – www.balance-app.com.

    I have also authored the Haynes Menopause Manual and the number 1 Sunday Times bestseller Preparing for your Perimenopause and Menopause.

    I am the founder and a trustee for The Menopause Charity which supports and empowers women with evidence-based knowledge, improves medical education and campaigns in many different ways.

    I have also set up a not-for-profit company – Newson Health Research and Education. I have recently launched the Confidence in the Menopause educational programme and am involved in research with colleagues in Warwick, Bath and University College London.

    I have contributed to menopause related articles in different newspapers and magazines and been on numerous radio and TV programmes. I also hosts a weekly podcast for women (entitled Newson Health).

  • I have made my career in education administration, starting at the University of Warwick where I led the administrative teams in Sociology and Education Studies. I have also worked in business management in a primary school before moving to the local authority sector and am currently involved in establishing an administrative hub in the Education and Skills division at Solihull MBC.

    I have been a feminist for as long as I can remember and completed an MA in Women's Studies at the University of Warwick. I remain interested in the intersection of class and gender and in creating and experiencing workspaces which are non-toxic and empowering for women. I have been an adoptive parent to a small boy since 2019 and now find every day to be both challenging and rewarding, and have experienced emotions I didn't know I had.

  • I am an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas at Austin in the United States. I use women of color feminisms to inform my community collaborations, research, and pedagogy in early childhood studies. These perspectives not only critically orient my work, they also foreground the urgency to re-envision the field to support culturally sustaining praxis and programs for minoritized young children.

    My work has been published in Teachers College Record, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, and Review of Research in Education. I was the recipient of the 2020, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Mid-Career Award, from the Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education, Special Interest Group (SIG). I was also the Host Chair of the 27th international Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (RECE) conference in 2019, and the Chair of the AERA Critical Perspectives on Early Childhood Education (CPECE) SIG in 2018.

  • I am a Professor of Political Science and Associate Executive Director of Community Engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University. My traditional scholarly research focuses on political participation, voluntary civic and political organizations, and political communication. I have recently published about the way the #MeToo Movement affects women’s political ambition, the effects of partisan polarization and rudeness on youth political engagement, and the role of civility in a democratic society.

    My applied pedagogy research focuses on facilitating student-led deliberative discussion sessions and on enhancing the political socialization that occurs within campus student organizations.

    I served as on the editorial team for APSA’s Journal of Political Science Education for six years, and I am the co-founder and co-director of a 200-member Consortium designed to help colleges and universities assess civic education efforts – in both campus-wide initiatives and in coursework.

    To address the need for an intersectional civic engagement pedagogy that encourages women and minoritized students to run for office, I recently co-authored the textbook Why Don’t Women Rule the World? with Sage-CQ. To address the intersectional experiences and needs of political science graduate students, I am also currently co-editing a resource titled Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.

  • Shortly after graduating from Falmouth University in 2011, I got my first job at the University of Kent as a Clerical Assistant, and with little administrative experience I didn't expect to stay in the role long.

    Nine and a half years later, I am still working for the University of Kent! I moved to the Office of the Vice Chancellor in 2013 as Officer Administrator, and subsequently progressed into a PA and Prevent Officer role, working for the Deputy Vice Chancellor Education. I have extensive experience of providing executive level support, and liaising with a range of stakeholders across the University. By providing support to the various teams working on the Covid-19 response since January 2020, I gained experience in critical incident and business continuity management, which has led to my current secondment role in the Project Management Office.

    I wouldn't be where I am today without the support and encouragement of women within Higher Education - whether that be my first Line Manager who took a chance on me with no previous experience, the two brilliant Deputy Vice Chancellor's who supported and championed me to move out of my comfort zone, and my fellow PA colleagues from whom I absorbed so much knowledge from.

  • I am an associate professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, where I coordinate the educational evaluation and research program. I earned my PhD in Educational Leadership at the University of Florida. Prior to entering post-secondary education, I worked as an instructional coach, professional development specialist, and National Board Certified Teacher. During that time, I contributed to several policy initiatives for the Florida Department of Education and served as classroom policy fellow at the United States Department of Education. I have also been a Wayne State University Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and visiting scholar at Ghent University. Recent books include Shared and Collaborative Practice in Qualitative Inquiry: Tiny Revolutions (Routledge, 2021) and, with Carol Taylor and Christina Hughes, the co-edited collection Transdisciplinary Feminist Research: Innovations in Theory, Method and Practice (Routledge, 2020).

    You can find out more about me here.