PhD (University of Kent), PGCHE (Oxford Brookes University), LLM (University of London), Postgraduate Diploma in Law (CPE) and Legal Practice (LPC) (BPP Law School), MA Arabic & Persian (University of Edinburgh).
Suhraiya is a Reader/Associate Professor in Law and Social Justice and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Her internationally recognised research draws on her previous experience working for international NGOs and grassroots organisations in the human rights and anti-discrimination fields.
As well as being practice led, Suhraiya’s work develops theoretically informed critical approaches to public law including on equality law and the legacies of empire. She has been teaching and researching on race, religion and law (including Muslim laws) for over twenty years (see publications below). Her work draws on critical race/religion theories and intersectional feminist de-colonial studies, exploring a range of contemporary urgent socio-legal problematics.
She is also an award-winning teacher and sector leader in antiracist/decolonial and inclusive legal pedagogy.
Critical Approaches to Public Law, Human Rights & Equalities Law & Policy and Race, Religion & Law; Intersectionality & Decolonial Studies; Muslim feminisms.
Suhraiya is currently undertaking research for a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship project (from November 2026) entitled: ‘Navigating Complex Coloniality - Law and Lived Experience in Tanzania’ and is a visiting fellow of the Institute of Ismaili Studies (London). The Leverhulme Trust Fellowship project builds on her 2013 monograph ‘The Religion of Law: Race, Citizenship and Children’s belonging' (Social and Legal Studies Series, Palgrave Macmillan) which examines juridical conceptualisations of religion and its relationship with 'race'.
Her subsequent journal publications explore issues of British/universal values and their regulatory impact on racially minoritised people and interrogates the co-imbrications of terms such as ‘religion’ and ‘secularity’ and the potential regulatory impact of government law and policy (see publications below).
Suhraiya is also completing a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research grant and Society of Legal Scholars funded joint project exploring public participation and democracy in local administrative law processes for renaming contested street names and heritage relating to empire.
This project builds on her expertise in the field of decolonial studies including in relation to her sector leading work on legal pedagogy (see below). Her work includes a co-edited book: ‘Decolonisation, Anti-racism and Legal Pedagogy: Strategies, Successes and Challenges’. (with F. I. Adebisi, and N. Tzouvala. 2023. UK: Routledge). She is currently completing research on ‘the pedagogy of love in legal education’ reflecting on an intersectional teaching approach to race/religion, gender and sexuality justice.
Suhraiya is the former Co-Director (until September 2025) of the Centre for Sexuality, Race & Gender Justice and Co-Director of Research (2022-2024). She was also Co-ordinator and Principle Investigator of the AHRC funded ((2012-2014)) Decolonising Sexualities Network (DSN) which brings together a transnational network of scholars and civil society activists working across issues of race, religion, sexuality and gender. She is co-editor of ‘Decolonising Sexualities: Transnational Perspectives, Critical Interventions’ (2016) a collection of academic and creative pieces including fiction and visual art and available on a pay what you can basis.
Her multi-method contribution to decolonial studies also includes working with students and (scholar-)activists, to co-produce creative multi-format outputs (e.g. film and zines) on decolonising and anti-racist pedagogy and activism.
Suhraiya is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and was awarded the faculty prize for teacher of the year (2019). Her teaching responsibilities span across Public Law, Race, Religion & Law and Gender, Sexuality & Law. She is former Deputy Director of Education and academic lead for the Decolonise the Curriculum Project (2018-2020). She is author of ‘Towards Anti-Racist Legal Pedagogy: A Resource’ for law-school teachers.
Her work brings together an ethical commitment to critical and inclusive pedagogy and decolonising work. She was awarded a UoK Teaching Enhancement Award in 2018/19 to collaborate with her students for a Decolonising the Curriculum Project. The project soon extended across the university and resulted in the DecoloniseUKC Manifesto which has featured in the NUS/UUK #ClosingtheGap report (2018).
The research has also fed into the DecoloniseUoK Collective book (2020) co-authored with the project students and a Social and Legal Studies Association (SLSA) funded empirical study resulting in: Towards Anti-racist Legal Pedagogy: A Resource for law school teachers, particularly those teaching foundation subjects and a short film entitled: ‘We Were Never Meant to Survive’ (with M. D’Amico, 2021) Suhraiya delivers trainings and talks to a variety of education and other organisations, including feeding into curriculum reviews.
Please get in touch if you would like to find out more.
Suhraiya has supervised students to completion working in the areas of critical and intersectional approaches to issues of public law, race/religion, gender/sexuality and equality law. She particularly welcomes students wanting to draw on critical/socio-legal and decolonial studies perspectives and methodologies.
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