Dr Sandra Pertek

Sandra Iman Pertek

International Development Department
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the School of Government and School of Social Policy and Society
Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
Institute for Research into Superdiversity
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Sandra Pertek is UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the School of Government and School of Social Policy, and Senior Research Fellow at the International Development Department (IDD) and the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham. She was previously Lecturer at the Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, and Teaching Fellow (POLSIS) and ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

Sandra specialises in the intersection of gender, violence, religion, forced migration and humanitarianism. Her research integrates the intersectional and ecological approaches to improve outcomes for displaced populations. She has led a number of studies across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, including the “Ukrainian Refugees at Risk” and “Protecting Forcibly Displaced Women and Girls in the Muslim World” projects. She currently leads an interdisciplinary and policy-oriented, £1.3m UKRI-funded research initiative, “Making Aid Work for Displaced Women”, which focuses on integrating Islamic philanthropy into the international humanitarian system and developing innovative solutions to global forced displacement.

She is an interdisciplinary researcher and social development specialist with over a decade of experience in humanitarian, development, and migration settings. Bridging research, policy, and practice, she has consulted for international and governmental organisations, including the European Commission, GIZ, the Home Office, and Islamic Development Bank. She has also collaborated with various organisations, such as the UNHCR, OIC and IFRC. Before joining the University of Birmingham, Sandra was a Senior Policy Adviser on Gender at a leading humanitarian agency.

She has published articles on gender, religion and forced migration in leading journals and co-authored the monograph, ‘On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls’ (Routledge). Her new monograph, ‘Violence against Women, Religion and Forced Displacement: Experiences and Humanitarian Responses’, is underway.

Qualifications

  • PhD Religion, forced migration and the continuum of violence, University of Birmingham, School of Social Policy
  • MSc Social Development Practice, University College London, Development Planning Unit
  • BA Interdisciplinary European Studies, University of Warsaw, the Centre for Europe
  • NVQ level 2 in Counselling Skills, Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body, Institute of Islamic Counselling

Biography

Dr Sandra Pertek is UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the School of Government and School of Social Policy, and Senior Research Fellow at the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham. She was previously Lecturer at the Institute for Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, and Teaching Fellow at POLSIS and ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham, where she is actively affiliated.

In her PhD studentship (School of Social Policy), Sandra explored the intersection of religion and the continuum of gendered violence in forced migration in Turkey and Tunisia, integrating intersectional and ecological approaches. Her thesis conceptualised religion as a multidimensional factor - intersectional vulnerability and a primary resilience resource across different stages of forced migration. She has led several studies across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, including the “Protecting Forcibly Displaced Women and Girls in the Muslim World” project, the “Ukrainian Refugees at Risk” project in Poland and Ukraine, the “Untold Migrant Stories” project in the Mediterranean, and the “Forced Migration, SGBV, and COVID-19” study. As the SEREDA Impact and Policy Fellow, in partnership with the Women’s Refugee Commission, she coordinated a multi-stakeholder Geneva-based roundtable to enhance protection in forced migration and undertook a joint technical assignment on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and migration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Currently, Sandra leads an interdisciplinary and policy-oriented, £1.3m UKRI-funded research initiative, Making Aid Work for Displaced Women, which investigates how better integration of Islamic philanthropy and the international humanitarian system can improve outcomes for displaced women.

With over a decade of experience as a gender and social development specialist in humanitarian, development, and migration settings, Sandra has consulted for various governmental, inter-governmental, and non-governmental organisations. For example, for the Home Office UK, she developed a Theory of Change (TOC) for integration, along with TOC guide notes based on the Indicators of Integration framework. In collaboration with GIZ, she conducted religious and traditional actor mapping in Zambia for a violence prevention programme in Southern Africa. For the Islamic Development Bank, she co-developed resources to integrate gender sensitivity into Islamic microfinance programmes for women. She also provided technical support to the European Commission on how to engage with religion, gender, and violence and has collaborated with the Danish Human Rights Institute, UNHCR, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on policy and capacity-building initiatives.

Previously, Sandra was Senior Policy Adviser on Gender (Global Technical Lead) at Islamic Relief Worldwide, where she authored its Gender Justice Policy and spearheaded a gender mainstreaming strategy. She also piloted gender-based violence (GBV) programmes in Africa and Asia, and facilitated learning exchanges in partnership with institutional donors, including UN agencies, the EU, Sida etc.

Sandra has also served on the Leadership Council of the SVRI/JLI Faith and GBV Hub and was part of the UN Women Roster for Eliminating Violence Against Women (EVAW) Spotlight Initiatives. She has supported several local and regional women’s organisations and remains an active contributor to networks focused on gender, religion, and forced migration.

She has published articles on gender, religion and forced migration in leading journals and co-authored the monograph, ‘On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls’ (Routledge). Her new monograph, ‘Violence against Women, Religion and Forced Displacement: Experiences and Humanitarian Responses’, is underway. Sandra also guest lectures at various academic institutions.

She holds PhD in Gender, Religion and Forced Migration from the University of Birmingham, MSc in Social Development Practice from University College London and BA in European Studies from the University of Warsaw.

Teaching

Sandra has contributed to the following modules:

  • Gender, reproductive and sexual health (MSc, QMU, 2024)
  • Sexual health policy and programming in practice (MSc, QMU, 2024)
  • Feminist Political Ideas (BA, POLSIS, 2024)
  • International Relations (BA, POLSIS, 2024)
  • Postcolonial Britain: Race, Identity & Belonging (BA, POLSIS, 2024)
  • Gender, Religion and Intersectionality in Forced Displacement session in Globalization, International Migration and Citizenship module (2023)
  • Forced Migration, SGBV and COVID-19 session in Migration, Superdiversity, Policy and Practice module (2020)
  • Indicators of Integration and Theory of Change session in Migration, Superdiversity, Policy and Practice module (2020)
  • SGBV in Conflict session in Gender, World Politics Module (2019)
  • Forced Migration and Religion session in Migration, Superdiversity, Policy and Practice Module (2019)
  • Gender Mainstreaming in Humanitarian Action in Sex, death and (in)security module (2019)

Research

Research interests

  • The continuum of violence across forced migration
  • Intersectionality, violence and discrimination
  • Resilience, coping and mental health and psychosocial support
  • Gender, religion and development
  • Decolonial responses to gender and GBV (e.g. among non-conventional actors)
  • Gender mainstreaming in faith-based organisations
  • The development, migration and humanitarian nexus

Current projects

Other activities

Membership

  • British Sociological Association
  • The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM)
  • Joint Learning Initiative and SVRI Faith and GBV Hub
  • GBV Community of Practice (AoR)
  • VAWG Research Network

Other contributions

Select blog posts/op-eds:

Policy briefs:

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Pertek, S 2024, 'Adaptive Religious Coping with Experiences of Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Displacement', Journal of Refugee Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feae003

Phillimore, J, Goodson, L, Hourani, J & Pertek, S 2024, 'Encounters with kindness: everyday and extraordinary kind interventions in the lives of forced migrant survivors of SGBV', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2347515

Pertek, S 2024, 'How can Muslim charities improve protection from violence against women in displacement?' The Forum, vol. 6, pp. 62-67. <https://www.muslimcharitiesforum.org.uk/resources/the-forum-06-inspiring-stories-the-blessings-of-the-sisters/>

Pertek, S 2024, 'Integrating Gender Sensitivity into Faith-Based Humanitarianism', Muslim Humanitarianism Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1, pp. 31-56. https://doi.org/10.2979/mhr.00002

Pertek, S, Block, K, Goodson, L, Hassan, P, Hourani, J & Phillimore, J 2023, 'Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement: Protective and risk factors', Frontiers in Human Dynamics, vol. 5, 1058822. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2023.1058822

Pertek, S, Kuznetsova, I & Tsarevska, I 2023, 'Ukrainian internally displaced women at risk of sexual and gender-based violence' Forced Migration Review, no. 72, pp. 56-59. <https://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/ukraine/magazine.pdf>

Pertek, S 2022, '“God helped us”: resilience, religion and experiences of gender-based violence and trafficking among African forced migrant women', Social Sciences, vol. 11, no. 5, 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050201

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Pertek, S 2023, Gender and Forced Displacement: Ukrainian Women Refugees in Poland. in L Lessard-Phillips, A Papoutsi, N Sigona & P Ziss (eds), Migration, displacement and diversity: The IRiS anthology. Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford, pp. 186-191.

Schliesser, C & Pertek, S 2023, “Your Women, Let Them Be Silent in the Assemblies”: Religion Matters for Gender Equality (SDG 5). in C Schliesser (ed.), On the Significance of Religion for the SDGs: An Introduction. Routledge, New York, pp. 75-83. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003332275-11

Pertek, SI 2022, A Muslim perspective: Religion as intersecting risk in violence against women and girls. in On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls. 1st edn, Religion Matters, Routledge, London, pp. 55-78. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003169086-6

Pertek, SI 2022, A Muslim perspective: Religion as protective resource in violence against women and girls. in On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls. 1st edn, Religion Matters, Routledge, London, pp. 117-136. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003169086-11

Pertek, SI & Roux, EL 2022, Joint reflections on religion contributing to violence against women and girls. in On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls. 1st edn, Religion Matters, Routledge, London, pp. 79-84. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003169086-7

Roux, EL & Pertek, SI 2022, Joint reflections on religion countering violence against women and girls. in On the Significance of Religion in Violence Against Women and Girls. 1st edn, Religion Matters, Routledge, London, pp. 137-143. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003169086-12

Commissioned report

Pertek, S & Phillimore, J 2022, “Nobody helped me”: Forced migration and sexual and gender-based violence: findings from the SEREDA project. University of Birmingham. <https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/iris/2022/sereda-international-report.pdf>

Other report

Pertek, S 2023, Protection from violence against women in forced displacement: Integrating religion into intersectional and socioecological approaches. University of Birmingham.

View all publications in research portal