Commissioned by NHS BT, we will be raising awareness about Organ Donation amongst the Sikh community in Wolverhampton.  The outreach involves strong collaboration with the Gurdwaras and Sikh community Leaders in Wolverhampton. With guidance from NHS Clinical Teams and Sikh Donor/ Recipient families, we have commissioned artwork/ digital media work that promotes Donation and Law Change whilst debunking ‘myths’ around organ donation in Sikhi.

Project Team:

Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE – Opinderjit is Director of the Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies and Associate Professor of Sikh Studies. Opinderjit has an international reputation through her academic work relating to areas such as Sikh identity, caste and gender amongst Sikhs and many other areas including activism on Sikh issues in the UK. She has received funding for a number of projects which include awareness of organ donation from the Sikh perspective, as well as carrying out an audit of Telford and Wrekin schools on their teaching about Sikhs. Her work has been awarded through many platforms, including twice at the House of Lords in 2017 & 2021, as well as by Asian Today as 'Inspirational Woman of the Year 2020' and 'Influencer of the Year 2019' at the British Indian Awards. 

Maggie Ayliffe – Maggie is Head of the Wolverhampton School of Arts at the University of Wolverhampton.

Scott Knight - Scott is Business Development Manager (Arts & Culture) for the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences at the University. Scott's expertise is in Arts, Design, Culture, History, Heritage, and Knowledge Transfer. Scott supports the Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies on a number of projects that impact within Public and Community Engagement. Projects to date have included Public Health related initiatives that have covered projects with the NHS as well as Private and Public bodies in the fields of Sport and Exercise.

Gayatri Pasricha - Gayatri Pasricha is a graphic designer with an academic background in philosophy. She looks to communicate difficult subjects in a palatable format. The campaign on organ donation, 'Nine' gave her the opportunity to do so as well as explore the design language of the South Asian community which is unrepresented in the digital sphere.

Working with Active Black Country, Wolverhampton Foundation and Active Through Football, we have been commissioned to carry out research into the physical exercise and physical training needs of the Sikh community in the Black Country.  We have also been commissioned to translate literature around physical activity into the Panjabi language for greater accessibility.

Project Team:

Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE;

Scott Knight;

Prabhjot Waraich – Prabhjot graduated from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar (Panjab) and I completed my Masters from Wolverhampton university in Sikh Studies. I am freelance Translator and interpreter for Punjabi and Hindi, also freelance content provider, researcher and interviewer for our local community channels. I am one of the directors of Sanjhi Sewa charity. 

Ranjit Singh – Ranjit runs a number of community based projects, including a well being hub at Cannock Road Gurdwara in Wolverhampton.

Commissioned by the Head of Public Health at Birmingham City Council, the Toolkit highlights practical steps and awareness around key health related issues.  The Toolkit will be used to raise awareness of issues relating to healthy lifestyles amongst Sikhs in Birmingham.  The Toolkits will also be distributed to Gurdwaras to address with the community.  The Toolkit will be available in English, Panjabi and online.

Project Team: Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE;

Dr Satvinder Purewal – Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing.

Dr Ranjit Khutan -  MiMi : ranjitkhutan  ;

Dr Gurpinder Lallie –Gurpinder is a sociologist of education with expertise in food insecurity and social justice. He has expertise in conducting case study research with a focus on educational ethnography.

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are working in collaboration with the Pothohar Association UK to produce an Exhibition and Documentary to highlight the journey of Pothohars to the UK, Africa and other countries as a result of the Partition of India in 1947. The Pothohari community is one of the most financially successful minority communities in the UK today.

Project Team: Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE;

Professor Keith Gildart https://deindustrialization.org/keith-gildart/    

Helen Sargeant Helen Sargeant - University of Wolverhampton (wlv.ac.uk)

Pothohar Association UK - The Pothohar Association UK – Preserving our Cultural Heritage

Funded by the University of Wolverhampton, the 3 year Digital Panjabi Project is the flagship element of the £1.1m initiative around a Digital Humanities Lab (RIGHT) at the University of Wolverhampton.   Panjabi, spoken by 125,000,000 speakers, is written in two scripts, Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi, which makes it difficult for the Panjabis in India and Pakistan to share ideas and relate to their common heritage. The current project seeks to make the Panjabi heritage, be it literature, history, art descriptions, philosophy, or any textual heritage, accessible to Panjabi speakers and learners through digitisation, web access, and artificial intelligence. The 2021 Census of England and Wales is especially timely as there is a concerted effort amongst Panjabis in England and Wales to have Panjabi recognised as the second most spoken language in the UK.

Project Team:

Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE;

Professor Ruslan Mitkov www.wlv.ac.uk/ruslanmitkov

Professor Michael Thelwall -  Mike Thelwall is a Professor of data science and specialist in social media analysis. He develops method to gather and analyse social media texts to investigate the topics discussed.

Dr Emad Mohamed  Emad Mohamed Profile | University of Wolverhampton (wlv.ac.uk)   

Dr Raheem Sarwar https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/R.Sarwar4

The Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies has been commissioned by Telford and Wrekin Council to carry out an audit of the teaching about Sikhs and Sikhi in its primary and secondary schools. This research is about identifying good practice in the schools of the Borough, as well as identifying any areas that need further support through resources and CPD.

Project Team:

• Dr Opinderjit Kaur Takhar MBE
• Telford and Wrekin Council