Heidi Mirza is a professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths College University of London. As one of the first black women professors in Britain, she is internationally known for her pioneering research on race, gender and identity in education.

She uses postcolonial and black feminist theoretical frameworks to explore social exclusion, human rights and equality issues for Muslim, Black and minority ethnic women. She has researched widely on the experiences of young Black and Asian women in school and processes of racialisation in higher education. Her recent work explores multicultural education, citizenship, and cultural and religious difference, including Islamophobia and gendered violence.

She is the author of several best-selling books including, Young Female and Black; Black British Feminism; Race Gender and Educational Desire: Why black women succeed and fail and most recently Respecting Difference: Race, Faith, and Culture for Teacher Educators.
In her essay Black British feminism then and now celebrating 30 years of black feminist tradition in which she has been part of a scholarly movement that has changed the way we teach and write about race and gender in the social sciences sh said ‘For me, black feminism is a stalwart tree with rich deep roots, lovingly nurtured by careful, critical gardeners. The wise embrace of its strong branches can reach out across time and space to provide shelter to a multitude of different voices. It is why after 30 years – it is still ‘the branch on which I sit’.