Ethnicity, health and social care - disability and caring; living with haemoglobin disorders; deafness and identity; living with a life threatening condition; interface between users-carers-services; notions of family obligations and informal care
British Muslims, identity and citizenship - most recently, work on British Muslim elites
Funded Research & Knowledge Exchange Projects
Professor Ahmad has held circa £5M in funded grants and contracts. His funders include the ESRC, the EPSRC, Department of Health, various national and regional NHS R&D programmes, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Nuffield Foundation, Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Relief, the British Heart Foundation, the National Lottery, among others. Current and recent grants include:
Karl Atkin, Simon Dyson, Waqar Ahmad and Elizabeth Anionwu 'Living with sickle cell or thalassaemia trait: implications for identity and social life', ESRC £200,000, 2 years from 2012 This study follows on from a number of previous studies conducted by Ahmad and Atkin, and Atkin and Dyson with outputs published in major journals including Social Science and Medicine, Sociology of Health and Illness, Health, British Journal of Social Work etc. Previous work has influenced NHS national policy on haemoglobin screening. This project focuses on the neglected issues of identity maintenance and social life choices made by those who are carriers for a haemoglobin disorder.
Aamra Darr, Waqar Ahmad with others 'Reducing the burden of autosomal recessive disorders', Department of Health £250,000, 30 months from 2005 This major project was a collaboration between social scientists (Darr, Ahmad, Small, Atkin) and a number of clinicians engaged in the management of autosomal recessive disorders. A key focus of the work was on the role of informal communication networks in understanding and responding to recessive disorders. A paper addressing family centred approach to genetic testing and counselling was published in Journal of Community Genetics (Darr et al 2012); other outputs are in preparation.
Engagement & Impact
Academician, Academy of Social Sciences
Member, Hefce Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategic Advisory Committee (current)
Member, ESRC Understanding Society Strategic Advisory Committee; Chair of its Ethnicity Strand Committee (one of three sub-committees)
Trustee, Woolf Institute Cambridge (with Lord Harries, Lord Hameed, Lady Woolf, Professor Lipner FBA, Lord Blair and others)
Fellow, Muslim Institute (current)
Member (at various times) RCUK initiaives e.g. MRC's Protect, and National Prevention initiatives; ESRC's Race and Youth Justice, Science and Society, Large Grants, ESRC Centres Programme and other intiatives; involved in Director appointments for ESRC e-Society, Social Identity and Social Action, New Dynamics of Ageingprogrammes and Genomics Research Centre
Member various NHS R&D regional and national initiatives; Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Social Care and Disability Committee; National Lottery's Social Research funding panel
Chair, RCUK's £18M New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (to 2007)
Member, various Cabinet Office initiatives on research-policy interface, including 'Trying it out: the role of pilots in policy making', chaird by Sir Roger Jowell
Editorial Board Member Sociology of Health and Illness, Critical Public Health, Health and Social Care in the Community, Creative Industries Journal and Critical Muslim
Co-edited the Open University Press book series 'Race', Health and Social Care
