Waqar Ahmad
Emeritus Professor

Profile

Biography

Waqar Ahmad retired from his position as Chancellor, Abu Dhabi University, in 2023. Under his watch, the
University became the first United Arab Emirates institution to break into the top 250 universities in the
Times Higher World University Rankings, with a joint first position in the MENA region. His previous roles
were at Middlesex (Deputy Vice Chancellor), Leeds (Professor), York (Senior Research Fellow) and Bradford
(Senior Lecturer, Lecturer, Research Assistant). He holds a Visiting Professorship in the Department of Social
Policy, London School of Economics, and was previously a Visiting Professor in the Department of Public
Health and Epidemiology at University College London. For three years, he was the Chief Social Scientist in
the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Research

Overview

Waqar’s research focused on health and social care, family obligations and implication for caring, disability
and chronic illness, and how Britain’s Muslims are making social and political space in Britain. His research
(some in collaboration with colleagues at York) has been funded by the ESRC, NHS R&D, Department of
Health, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Cancer Research Campaign and others and published, among others, in
the Lancet, Social Science and Medicine, Sociology of Health and Illness, Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Journal of
Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ageing and Society, Critical Social Policy, Critical Public Health, and Health. At various
times, he has served on the ESRC’s Strategic Research Board, HEFCE’s Research and Knowledge Exchange
Strategic Advisory Committee and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Research Committee. Waqar chaired
the first cross-RCUK program, the New Dynamics of Ageing.

Publications

Selected publications

1. Dyson SM, Ahmad WIU and Atkin K (2016) ‘Narrative as Re-Fusion: Making Sense of Sickle Cell or
Thalassaemia Trait’, Health 20(6): 616-634.
2. Ahmad WIU and Sardar Z (Editors - 2012) Muslims in Britain: Making Social and Political Space, London:
Routledge
3. Ahmad WIU (2012) ‘Creating a society of sheep? British Muslim elite on mosques and imams’, in
Ahmad WIU and Sardar Z (eds) Muslims in Britain: Making Social and Political Space, London:
Routledge, pp 170-192.
4. Ahmad WIU and Evergeti V (2010) ‘The making and representation of Muslim identity in Britain:
conversations with British Muslim ‘elites’’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(10), 1697-1717.
5. Kelaher M, Paul S, Lambert H, Ahmad WIU and Davey Smith (2009) 'The applicability of measures
of socioeconomic position to different ethnic groups within the UK, International Journal for Equity in
Health, 8:4.
6. Ahmad WIU and Bradby H (2008), Ethnicity, Health and Health care: Understanding Diversity, Tackling
Disadvantage, Oxford: Blackwell (Sociology of Health and Illness in 2007- Monograph 13).
7. Kelaher M, Paul S, Lambert H, Ahmad WIU and Davey Smith G (2008) 'The impact of different
measures of socioeconomic position on the relationship between ethnicity and health', Annals of
Epidemiology 18(5): 351-356.
8. Chattoo S and Ahmad WIU (2008) ‘The moral economy of selfhood and caring: negotiating
boundaries of personal care as an embodied moral practice’, Sociology of Health and Illness 30(4): 550-
564.
9. Kelaher M, Paul S, Lambert H, Ahmad WIU, Fenton S and Davey Smith G (2008 ) ‘Discrimination
and health in a British study’, Social Science and Medicine 66: 1627-1636.

10. Ahmad WIU and Bradby H (2008) ‘Locating ethnicity and health: exploring concepts and contexts’,
Sociology of Health and Illness, 29(6): 795-810 (with over 1500 downloads, the second most downloaded
SHI article in 2008).
11. Chattoo S and Ahmad, WIU (2004) ‘The meaning of cancer: illness, biography and social identity’, in
David Kelleher and Gerard Leavey (ed) Identity and Health, Routledge (p19-36).
12. Atkin K, Ahmad WIU and Jones L (2002) 'Young South Asian deaf people and their families:
negotiating relationships and identities', Sociology of Health and Illness, 24(1): 21-45.
13. Ahmad WIU, Atkin K and Jones L (2002) 'Being deaf and being other things: young Asian people
negotiating identities', Social Science and Medicine, 55(10): 1757-1769.
14. Atkin K and Ahmad WIU (2001) 'Living a 'normal ' life: young people living with thalassaemia major
or sickle cell disorder', Social Science and Medicine 53(5): 615-626.
15. Editor (2000) Ethnicity, Disability and Chronic Illness, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
16. Atkin K and Ahmad WIU (2000) 'Family care-giving and chronic illness: how parents cope with a
child with a sickle cell disorder or thalassaemia', Health and Social Care in the Community 8(1): 57-69.
17. Atkin K and Ahmad WIU (2000) 'Pumping iron: compliance with chelation therapy among young
people who have thalassaemia major', Sociology of Health and Illness 22(4): 500-24. Reprinted in S
Nettleton and U Gustafsson (eds) (2002) Sociology of Health and Illness Reader, Cambridge: Polity Press.
18. Harrison S and Ahmad WIU (2000) 'Medical autonomy and the UK state 1975 to 2025', Sociology
34(1). Invited contribution to the Millennium issue. Reprinted in S Nettleton and U Gustafsson
(eds) (2002) Sociology of Health and Illness Reader, Cambridge: Polity Press; and G Scambler (ed)
(2004) Medical Sociology: Major Themes in Health and Social Welfare, Vol 4, London: Routledge (ISBN
0415317797).
19. Smith GD, Charsley K, Lambert H, Paul S, Fenton S and Ahmad WIU (2000) 'Ethnicity, health and
the meaning of socio economic position', in Graham H (Ed) Understanding Health Inequalities,
Buckingham: Open University Press.
20. Atkin K and Ahmad WIU (1998) 'Genetic counselling and haemoglobinopathies: ethics, politics and
practice', Social Science and Medicine 46(3): 445-458.
21. Atkin K, Ahmad WIU and Anionwu E (1998) 'Screening and counselling for sickle cell disorders and
thalassaemia: the experience of parents and health professionals', Social Science and Medicine 47 (11):
1639-51.
22. Ahmad WIU and Walker R (1997) 'Asian older people: housing, health and social services', Ageing and
Society 17: 141-165.
23. Walker, R and Ahmad, WIU (1994) 'Windows of opportunity in rotting frames? Service providers'
perspectives on community care and the black population'. Critical Social Policy, Issue 40: 46-69
(adopted as set reading for the Open University advanced level course Family Life and Social Policy
(D311), Offprints. part 2).