Azra Meadows is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

lecturer of Pakistani descent. is an Honorary Lecturer in the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences at The

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and is married to Professor Peter S. Meadows, along with whom she has carried out extensive work of an environmental, cultural and educational nature in both

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Azra Meadows was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

to Pakistani parents. Professor Peter S. Meadows and Dr Azra Meadows are the editors of The Glasgow Naturalist, the annual publication of The Glasgow Natural History Society. In addition to this, Azra Meadows is a Director of The Scottish Academy of Asian Arts, has previously held the post of

chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of the Scottish Pakistani Society and, in 2006, was elected for a second term to the Council of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

, of which she is also a Trustee.

Cultural initiatives

Amongst the projects in which Professor Peter Meadows and Dr Azra Meadows have played a significant role is the Connecting Futures:Student Dialogues programme. Conceived by the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

and the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, the aim of the initiative was to foster an understanding between the cultural backgrounds of students from the UK and those of Muslim countries, as part of which a delegation of sixteen students from the UK - four from The

, four from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, four from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

and four from

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

- visited

in 2005. The Meadows, as well as facilitating the preparations for the delegation of Glasgow students - Anna Chiumento,

Gary Sergeant Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Indi ...

Zoe Nisbet
an
Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
- have ensured that the value, purpose and success of the initiative is not forgotten. This has been done by arranging and assisting the students from

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

to deliver, on several occasions, a lecture entitled ''Bridging the Divide: Myths and Realities'', describing their experiences in

and their impact. At the invitation of Dr

Maliha Lodhi Maleeha Lodhi (; born 15 November 1952) is a Pakistani diplomat, political scientist, and a former Pakistan's Representative to the United Nations. She was the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she served as Pakistan's envoy to the ...

, the High Commissioner of

to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the lecture was delivered in September 2005 to an audience at the High Commission of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Awards and nominations

In January 2014, Meadows was nominated for the Science and Engineering award at the

British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...

References

External links

Scottish Academy of Asian ArtsUniversity of Glasgow Biosedimentology UnitGlasgow Natural History Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meadows, Azra Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Academics of the University of Glasgow Officers of the Order of the British Empire Scottish people of Pakistani descent British naturalists Scottish naturalists British academics of Pakistani descent Pakistani naturalists