Greater Manchester Faith in Education Conference
Track 1: Educating communities about faith
Media Portrayals of Faith with Aaqil Ahmed, Head of BBC Religion and Ethics
Aaqil Ahmed has been Head of Commissioning for four years. He joined the BBC from Channel 4
where he was Commissioning Editor for Religion, and Head of Multicultural Programming.
He currently combines being the TV genre lead for Religion and Ethics with commissioning the TV
output as well as managing the in-house multimedia Religion and Ethics Department and being the
BBC's overall Head of Religion.
He is also a Professor at The School of Media and Performing Arts, Middlesex University and a
regular speaker and writer on the Media and Cultural Diversity.
We Stand Together led by Umer Khan, Jonny Wineberg and David Gray
‘We Stand Together’ encourages people to come together as one and celebrate their differences in
order to build a safer and stronger United Kingdom.
The initiative has been launched following recent global events which have caused concern within
communities across Greater Manchester.
Ensuring Decision Makers Understanding Faiths with Phil Austin
Track 2: Faith in schools
Twinning Faith Schools with Carlo Schroder and Yasin Khan
Carlo Schröder currently works as the Near Neighbours coordinator for the North West of England
He was born in Germany and studied International Relations, Peace Studies and comparative
religious studies at Lancaster University. His MA dissertation was about Peace Education exploring
the impact of competition and individualism in society and the need for a unity based world view.
Over the last 10 years Carlo has worked as an Inter Faith practitioner in his efforts trying to build
peace by promoting better relationships between people of different faiths and religions. This work
also involved working with schools, and FE colleges to raise awareness about different faiths and
religions, and promote inter faith dialogue amongst parents and pupils. Carlo is passionate about the
positive role that religion can (and must) play in society and believes in open dialogue between
people of all faiths and non to address community issues and shape society for the better.
Carlo is a member of the Bahai community and served on various committees and institutions on
both national and local level. He currently is a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Liverpool as serves as a Baha'i representative on the Merseyside Council of Faiths. In his local
community Carlo is currently looking at the power of youth to shape communities. On a more
personal note Carlo, born in Germany, is married to Hind who is a lady from Iraq and therefore
experiences the wonders of east meets west on a daily basis, in a family where English, German and
Arabic are spoken daily.
Yasin Khan
Yasin Khan works for Rochdale Council as the Schools Equality and Cohesion Lead. He is responsible
for ensuring that all head teachers, senior leaders and governing bodies are aware of their duties to
promoting equality and justice, community cohesion, harmony and understanding and meet the
statutory requirements of the Equality Act 2010, Public Sector Equality Duty and Prevent Duty 2015.
As the lead officer for Equality and Cohesion Initiate, develop and co-ordinate a range of projects &
training sessions in schools around Equality Diversity and interfaith and the Prevent Duty.
R.E in Schools Today with Laura Daniels, Head of Woodheys Primary School
Being a multi-faith school with Andrew Shakos, Head of Parrswood High School
Track 3: Adult and Continuing Learning
Higher Education with Terry Biddington, The University of Manchester, Head of Chaplaincy
Terry Biddington has been co-ordinator of the 23-strong multi-faith chaplaincy team for the
Manchester Higher Education community since 2003, and is based at St. Peter's Church and
Chaplaincy. Amongst other works, he is the author of Risk-Shaped Discipleship: On Going Deeper
into the Life of God.
Peace Mala with Reverend Fujo Malaika
Malaika is a Peace Ambassador and Interfaith Minister. She has worked with various youth clubs,
schools and community groups across Greater Manchester for many years, and her work is focused
around creating and delivering peace and forgiveness workshops that celebrate and promote the
importance of peaceful relationships within communities while recognizing individual excellence.
She has received several accolades for her community work from various community leaders and
key figures, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Malaika is particularly passionate about Peace Mala, which she considers her ‘bedrock’. She believes
strongly in upholding equality and respect for all, in line with the ‘Golden Rule,’ and is keen to
engage with people through her workshops to promote this message of peace.
Scriptural Reasoning with Dwight Swanson from the Nazarene College
Dwight Swanson is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies, and Co-Director,
Manchester Centre for the Study of Christianity and Islam at Nazarene Theological College.
Dr Swanson’s teaching career has included posts at European Nazarene Bible College, Switzerland
and Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, Manila. His research interests have moved to the
Bible and Islam/Qur'an. He is currently working with the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies in
Oxford on the project 'Reading the Bible in the Context of Islam'. He also contributed a number of
dictionary articles to The Global Wesleyan Dictionary of Theology (Beacon Hill Press, 2012),
Theologisches Worterbuch zu den Qumrantexten(Kohlhammer, 2011) and The Encyclopedia of the
Bible and Its Reception (Walter de Gruyter and Co.)
Track 4: Faith Based Informal Education/ Youth Work
Ways of doing Interfaith Dialogue with Phil Rawlings
Youth Work with Louise Kenyon, Steven Weller, Bayan Smith
Louise Kenyon
Louise Kenyon is a Youth Work and Ministry Course Coordinator and has taught at NTC since 2004 in
the areas of social theology and youth work with oversight of the BA (hons) Theology: Youth Work
and Ministry programme and student placements. She is JNC qualified and has over 20 years youth
work experience working in a variety of contexts including statutory youth work and church-based
youth work and ministry.
Her current research includes an interest in Gothic and neo-Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, E.W.
Pugin, memory, faith, belief, visual methodologies, geographies of religion and spirituality, sacred
space, materiality, community and identity. These are connected to her PhD research; ‘Gorton
Monastery: A case study of contested geographies of sacred space and belief’ (MMU).
Louise is also an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and is involved in face-to-face youth
work in the Longsight area of Manchester and as a trustee with M13 Youth Project in Manchester.
Bayan Smith
Bayan Smith is 23 years olds and lives in Hulme with his wife. He is a craftsman who works with
wood and from his workshop in Hulme he makes furniture to commission and other smaller wooden
products. He serves on the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai's of Manchester and also runs a
junior youth group with his wife. The group is open to all 12-15 year olds regardless of background
and its purpose is to release the capacity within this age group and channel their energies to serving
their local community.
Steven Weller
Steve joined the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade team in 2010 initially as the Duke of Edinburgh’s
Award Coordinator for the North. In 2011 Steve moved into a newly created role of fulltime
Accreditation and Training Coordinator which Steve helped to define. Based at the JLGB’s Regional
Office in Manchester, Steve has responsibility for delivering the JLGB’s National Framework for high
quality accredited leadership training across the UK (jlgb.org/aiminghigh).
Over the last few years Steve has raised youth leadership training to new levels with over 400 Jewish
young people gaining an accredited OCN module. Young people are receiving recognition in lifelong
skills such as Peer Leadership, Management and Organisational Skills Understanding Active
Citizenship in the Local Community and a range of modules on Diversity.
Steve has recently built working partnerships with ultra-orthodox ‘Charedi’ communities, helping to
create further targeted services and adaptations for this hard to reach community.
In his spare time Steve is an avid community volunteer working with various organisations including
Limmud and is part of the team that put on the Jewish Community Awards to recognise volunteers
and professionals within the community for the work they do.
Creating Dual Faith Youth Groups with Feast
The Feast is a Christian charity based in Birmingham, promoting community cohesion between
Christian and Muslim young people. The Feast is empowering young people to become peacemakers
and spearhead social change.