Ashok Patel
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
School of Health Sciences
- Email:
- ashok.patel@bcu.ac.uk
- Phone:
- 0121 331 7604
Ashok has a number of research interests, and is developing research projects with clinicians based in hospitals in Birmingham, as well as colleagues within BCU. He has had a number of published studies in the field of genetic predisposition to complex disease such as diabetic kidney disease and dementia in Down’s syndrome. He is keen to be involved in multi-disciplinary research projects which have a benefit to regional communities in the West Midlands.
He is also interested in research in teaching and learning, which may have a direct impact on improving University education. Recently he has been involved in a study which has investigated the effect of ethnicity on the sense of belonging and motivation in first year biological sciences students at Coventry University.
Outside of science Ashok has an interest in creative writing and is excited by the innovative STEAM research culture that is being developed at BCU. This initiative brings together interdisciplinary researchers and builds collaborations between artists and scientists. He has had an afternoon play produced on BBCR4 directed by Vanessa Whitburn called Jeevan sathi; Life partner (2002). He has had 3 short films produced: Obsession was produced by Sampad (2003), Chahana was produced by Arts in Sandwell (2004) and Cathy and I produced by Script and Lighthouse (2005).
Recently, he has written a play called Ninety Days, a fictional story based on the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 by president Idi Amin. This play was showcased by Futuretheatre company at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham in January 2018.
His short story, Ninety days, also based on the theme of the Ugandan Asian expulsion was short-listed by The Asian Writer short story Prize 2016 on the theme of Borders, Boundaries and Belonging. The short list has been published as anthology of short stories by Dahlia Publishing in 2017.