Meet the India Group

Professor Athwal sets the strategy for and oversees the research, innovation and enterprise activities within the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. He is currently contributing to collaborative projects with a number of medium sized enterprises as well as with large multinationals including Jaguar Land Rover and GlaxoSmithKline.

Professor Athwal has been on the academic staff at Birmingham City University for almost 30 years and has led many university/industry collaborations in sectors including the automotive supply chain, jewellery, creative industries and smart cities. He has specialised in providing Digital Technology solutions to support greater productivity in these sectors. He has been awarded National Best Knowledge Transfer Programme from around 400 projects of technology transfer from university to industry, and his work on vehicle crash test analysis was highlighted as one of the 20 highest rated societal impacts from UK university based computer science research during the last 15 years. He established BCU’s Digital Media Technology Lab (DMTLab), that carries out research into Mixed Reality, Image Processing and Audio Engineering.

Professor Athwal has degrees in Physics at BSc, MSc and PhD level from the Universities of Manchester, London and Aston respectively. He has held research posts at Southampton and Lancaster Universities. Prior to joining BCU he was a CERN Fellow in Geneva, Switzerland for two years, followed by five years of experience in the radar industry with GEC Ltd.

Rajinder is based in the Institute of Media and English at BCU and is a cross Faculty of Arts, Design and Media Research Professor. He is leading the University's growing group of creative industries researchers, coordinating the University's efforts to consolidate its reputation in this area, and working with the Institute for Creative Innovation to establish BCUs expertise in the field. He also mentors researchers across the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media.

Rajinder serves on the Research Councils (RCUK) Strategic Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) College as Chair and reviewer on panels, on the Arts and Humanities Research Councils (AHRC) Peer Review College and also acts as an AHRC Strategic Reviewer. He has also been appointed to serve on sub-panel 25 for Area Studies of the Research Excellence Framework/REF 2021.

Rajinder’s academic interests are in the areas of film, media, cultural studies, and creative industries including: Bollywood cinema, Black British representation, popular music, diasporic and transnational media, television studies, and in cultural theory and qualitative research methods as applied to popular culture and creative industries research. Rajinder has published a number of books, edited collections and articles in peer reviewed scholarly journals. He is one of the founding Co-Editors of the international journal South Asian Popular Culture (Routledge).

Rajinder’s undergraduate degree was in Cultural Studies at the University of Portsmouth (with specialisms in film and media studies, literature and cultural theory), followed by a PhD at the Dept. of Cultural Studies and Sociology, University of Birmingham. Before a Lectureship and then Senior Lectureship in Screen Studies at the University of Manchester, he was Research Fellow in Sociology at the University of Portsmouth where he also gained a Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 

Dr Jenny Harding is the Director of the University’s Research & Innovation Gateway which brings together services to support research and innovation activities. She has 20 years’ experience in Higher Education, developing research and related support services. Her areas of expertise are research strategy and policy development; research and innovation funding; building strategic partnerships; research assessment and impact; and research ethics and governance.
Jenny has actively engaged with the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda throughout her career, promoting the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, Athena SWAN and activities to widen participation in higher education. She mentors a number of women in academia and professional services at BCU and other institutions. Most recently she has completed the Aurora leadership development programme for women in higher education. Prior to going into research management, Jenny was a post-doctoral researcher and assistant lecturer in Biomedical and Life Sciences at Lancaster University where she investigated the role of the role of metals in neurodegenerative diseases and taught biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology.

As a recipient of ‘Overseas Research Student Award (ORSAS)’, Vivek completed his classic doctoral training programme, in Bioengineering, from the University of Strathclyde. Upon completion of his research training degree, Vivek undertook various Post-Doctoral Research active roles at University College London and Birmingham City University, where he was engaged in testing and investigating various patented medical devices designed by respective universities. Currently, Vivek is an Associate Professor in Applied Health Sciences and heads the Biomedical Engineering Lab based within the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences. As a Course Director for a number of Biomedical Engineering provisions, both at UG and PG level, Vivek oversees the operation and delivery of these courses in the UK and Overseas in collaboration with various partner institutions based in; Colombo, Guangdong and Shanghai. As a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, Vivek has also been working with various overseas institutions in developing and promoting advanced academic and pedagogic practices aiming to enhance the professional development of academic staff and thereby positively influencing the overall student learning experience.

After graduating with a degree in Human Movement Studies and a PGCE, Mark’s early career was in PE teaching and Sports Development. He then moved into Further Education where he developed and delivered a number of HE courses and was Head of School of Sport and Recreation, Business and IT. Prior to his move to BCU in March 2017 Mark worked for 11 years at the University of Gloucestershire where he developed and led a range of sports coaching courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He also worked with a range of sports governing bodies to develop bespoke courses for their high performing coaches. Alongside his academic work, Mark has a background in sports performance. He was a rugby international at U19, U20 and U21 level, and has coached a range of regional and national rugby teams. He currently sits on the board of England Squash, British Equestrian Federation and English Colleges Rugby Football Union. He is a trustee for the United Communities Active Network (UCAN) in Birmingham and is a member of the Birmingham Community Sport and Physical Activity Alliance. He sits on the Performance and Talent groups for both England Lacrosse and England Squash and is a member of the World Class Performance Management Group for the British Equestrian Federation.

Eirini Mavritsaki is Professor in Cognitive Psychology, Director of Research for the School of Social Sciences in Birmingham City University and Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy. Eirini is also Honorary Lecturer in University of Birmingham and visiting academic in University of Cambridge. She founded and directed the Centre of Applied Psychological Research in the School of Social Sciences and leaded the research of the Department of Psychology (2011-2016). She served as Director in the international Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance for 4 years and is now Associate Editor in Frontiers in Psychology and guest editor in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience.

Eirini has been working in academia more than 14 years and has more than 24 publications in Journal articles and book chapters and 25 conference presentations with research that spans from Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology to Cross-cultural differences and Learning. Through her research work Eirini developed an international network of collaborators from US, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and UK.

Caroline lectures on BCU’s Fashion Business and Promotion BA course within the School of Fashion and Textiles. Her background is in fashion knitwear design, with 20 years of industry experience, working in the USA, Italy and UK with key skills in design, production, sales and trends forecasting. Her current areas of teaching include trends forecasting, buying and merchandising, and sustainable practice in the fashion industry, with research interests in sustainable business and design.

In 2018 Caroline ran a two-week trends forecasting workshop at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. She is committed to inspiring students to become the change makers in the fashion industry. In 2017 she set up a lecture programme ’Fashioning Futures’ to bring inspiring industry speakers into the school, and has recently organised the first student conference within the School of Fashion and Textiles, which challenges students to present research in answer to its key theme ‘How can we create a more positive future for the fashion and textile industry?’.

Professor Nasser Sherkat was appointed as Head of the School of Engineering and the Built Environment.  Professor Sherkat has a strong track record in strategic leadership and management in higher education and industry. He previously worked at Nottingham Trent University and Sheffield Hallam University, where he led a number of innovation and change programmes. 

Highlights in this role encompass leading Strategy development, Horizon 2020 research consortia, Periodic Review, reaccreditation of courses with IET and IOM3 and winning an Athena Swan Bronze Award.  Professor Sherkat also has extensive experience of managing research staff and PhD students on funded projects, making a significant contribution to the growth of submissions to REF2021.

Nasser Sherkat is Professor of Human Machine Interaction and his main research expertise is exploring the means of combining multi-sensory information to achieve ‘natural’ human-machine interaction.   His most recent work in this area focused on assistive technology for stroke rehabilitation, and various UK and EU funding bodies have funded his research. He has over 150 peer reviewed research publications and supervised 23 PhD studies to completion – 17 as director of studies.

Professor Sherkat has also gained significant industry experience through consultancy work, contract research and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, as well as being a founding director of a number of SMEs specialising in process control and automation.

He is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Dr Shishank brings industry experience to his role having undertaken project management position in an Oil company before joining the University to pursue his MSc degree. He has also worked as an operations and strategy consultant within both manufacturing and service industry in UK, India, Australia, Sweden and Singapore. Shishank has led academic/industry collaborations in the sectors including logistics, automotive & aerospace supply chains and e-vehicles. He specialises in providing digital solutions for SMEs adopting Industry 4.0/5.0.

Dr Shishank during his tenure at BCU has designed three new courses, MSc in Global Business Operations, MSc in Metaverse and Digital Leadership & BSc (Hons) Digital Business. Shishank has taught on a wide range of courses within the Digital Transformation and Operations Management discipline. His teaching mainly focuses on Digital Supply Chain, Technology in Logistics, Operations Management both in manufacturing and service industry, Research Methodology, Innovation Management and Open Innovation.

Makhan has strong business development, technical engineering, leadership, communication and project management skills gained within the Automotive and University sectors. His experience within the automotive sector includes working for and with companies such as Land Rover, BMW-Land Rover, Britax, Johnson Controls, and Keiper Recaro. He has worked across Europe with Wagon Automotive and Land Rover.

Makhan has worked with numerous Higher Education Institutions on projects ranging from business development, curriculum development & Outreach/ Widening Participation through to Employer Engagement & STEM careers resource development. Having spent three years at the Engineering Employers Federation and five years working on the HEFCE/HEFCW funded More Maths Grads/National HE STEM programme, Makhan has worked at national level on STEM/Mathematics educational projects, been part of high level steering groups including the BIS Careers for Science Group and presented at various STEM/Mathematics conferences.

Professor Louise Toner is a nurse, midwife and academic by professional background; she has a wealth of experience working with the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and within the higher education sector again across all countries, bar Northern Ireland. Since moving into higher education, she has maintained strong partnership working with colleagues within health and social care across all sectors; she is a member of the UK Universities Council of Deans. In her current role Louise has responsibility for the faculty’s academic portfolio ensuring it is the right offering to meet the workforce needs of employers and the personal and professional development needs of qualified health and social care professionals. She represented the university on the Birmingham and Solihull Local Workforce Action Board and she is a member of their Education Partnerships Group established to enable universities, NHS Trusts and other healthcare providers to work together to recruit and retain students to facilitate sufficient qualified staff entering the workforce. In addition, she is a member of the British Commonwealth Association (BCA), chairing their Education Sub Group and representing the BCA on the Greater Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham/West Midlands.

Louise has also worked for a hugely successful charity in the UK – Macmillan Cancer Support where she was responsible for an Education Development Programme for specialist nurses in Cancer and Palliative Care. She was previously Chair but is now Trustee of the Wound Care Alliance UK a charitable organisation who provide education and training for non-specialist  healthcare staff both qualified and unqualified in the field of Tissue Viability. As a surgical ward sister in practice Louise has a special interest in cancer care – the subject of her Masters degree awarded by the University of Glasgow. Her interest in Wound Care led to her establishing the faculty’s Wound Healing Practice Development Unit of which she is the Director. This Unit delivers specialist workshops by our Professors in Wound Healing, undertaking product evaluations often in association with product manufacturers.

Louise’s remit within the faculty includes leading overseas activities as a result of which she has been privileged to visit a number of countries meeting with government officials, leading academics and professionals. Along with other colleagues, she is in the process of securing funds to assist developing countries in terms of their healthcare education needs that include caring for older people, primary care, stoma care and wound care.

Venkatesh received his PhD in Engineering for extending Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) principles into engineering distance learning from Birmingham City University. He currently heads the Knowledge Based Engineering lab and has being developing and module-coordinating MSc module Knowledge Based Engineering for Automotive/Mechanical Masters students. His area interests are in the field of Knowledge Based engineering, virtual and augmented reality, artificial Intelligence, embedded systems, robotics, engineering distance learning and developing educational application. He has developed various engineering educational demos including human robot collaboration, creative design space and an Augmented Reality based teaching and learning environment.

Anita has over 25 years of achievement in the financial sector, having worked in various strategic roles based in the City of London and internationally in locations including Sydney, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Buenos Aires. Her roles have included overseeing the management of multi-million-pound projects and shareholder investments for large blue chips reporting directly to shareholders and Chief Executives. Anita has a track record of managing strategically important global partnerships; programme management, risk/legal/audit/compliance management, business development, strategic change management, tender management including securing key clients and increasing distribution market share.

Anita secured the largest distribution platform agreement for the UK’s largest distributor of financial advisors whilst she was a national director. She has developed industrial partnerships and is passionate about empowering women and has partaken in areas of research related to emotional nerve intelligence and supported work published in several research journals. Anita holds an international MBA awarded in the Netherlands.