Saima Khan

Project Title: Exploring the immersive educational programming of water resources for young people to empower and promote water sustainability towards a carbon-neutral Nottingham

What were you doing before starting this PhD?

I was looking after my family, while having a part time job as Chaplain at both the universities in Nottingham. I was also volunteering in supporting my mosque where I am a committee member and a trustee. I also completed a commissioned work of an Urdu to English scholarly translation of a lengthy biography, in the last year. 

What motivated you to apply for this specific PhD project?

I value my faith ‘Islam’ a lot, and I found the project to be very close to Islamic principles of life. Islam regards the humans as God’s ambassadors and representatives on Earth in helping and teaching others, to establish justice and equality on Earth (in terms of natural resources and rights), and to be responsible towards other human beings as well as our environment.

The multi-disciplinary nature of the project involves all my personal passions and interests and my background learning and experiences – social-responsive education, community development, helping to save the natural resources, urban development, sustainable development and its education, renewable energy, immersive education for children, helping raise mindful generations, creating wonderful experiences for children to cherish their memories when they grow old.

What difference do you hope to make in Nottingham through this research? 

I hope my research will raise the profile of the local community organisation involved, Papplewick Pumping Station, who aim to support the schools in educating primary schools’ children about the historic development of clean water availability and accessibility to Nottingham communities. I wish everyone in Nottingham learns about the importance of sustainable use and reuse of ‘water’, an important natural resource. 

What do you hope to be doing in 5 years’ time? (personally and/or professionally) 

I wish to be involved in getting the Sustainable Development Education to grassroots levels. I wish to disseminate the knowledge to all the communities in Nottingham, like schoolchildren, as well as all the faith, and cultural communities, who might not have access to this knowledge, so that all of us use the resources mindfully and intellectually, and work together towards saving the planet for the future generations.