Dr Mahera Ruby was previously a researcher at the University of Goldsmiths, where she co-directed the ESRC-funded research project on ‘Becoming literate through faith: language and literacy learning in the lives of new Londoners’. In addition to working on the Paul Hamlyn Foundation project on ‘Developing bilingual pedagogies through partnership between supplementary and mainstream schools’. She has served as president of a number of community organisations, including Muslimaat, UK.