Mrs Dimah Ajeeb

Working with Citizens UK to Develop Impactful Research and Knowledge Exchange 

Acting as an expert in the Citizens UK series of events to establishe the collboration between Citizens UK and the University of Westminster to work together on projects for social justice and building stronger communities.

https://www.citizensuk.org/leadership-training/power-knowledge-excha...

Global Council For Political Renewal Conference 14/15 April 2023

The Global Council for Political Renewal has a diverse and esteemed group of political leaders from around the world. With an outstanding lineup of speakers in the conference, including government ministers, MPs, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, ambassadors and academics, the event was a great opportunity for knowledge and experience exchange with politicians from the UK government and beyond. Dimah’s contribution to the conference was driven by her interests to bridge the ever increasing gap between academia, politics and communities in the face of a variety of crises and uncertainty. Her contribution was on the values, principles, and mechanisms for applying the multi-level governance (MLG) framework in a strictly uniform way to enact and activate global political renewal. The contribution also reflected on the experiences and knowledge on how to facilitate resilient and adaptive governance, and building citizens and communities trust in politics derived from the experience of European Union’s Municipal Administration Modernisation project to Syria (2005- 2009), the U.S. and New York’s community- led regeneration projects and the making of great communities, and the UK and England’s experience of devolution, institutional reforms, place based economies, neighbourhood planning, and communities empowerment, prosperity and inclusiveness. / 14 Apr 2023 - 15 Apr 2023.

Whose Government Is It? House of Lords- Palace of Westminster

Dimah has been invited by Dr. Henry Tam to the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster to mark the publication of his new book ‘Whose Government is it? – the renewal of state-citizen cooperation’, published by Bristol University Press. The work is towards finding effective ways to bridge the widening gap between the public and the government. The work featured special guest speakers, Lord Blunkett, Dame Jane Roberts, Hazel Blears and Henry Tam, and academics and practitioners, policymakers, opinion formers, and leading figures in democratic reform and civic engagement. The event focuses on key issues such as why and how better state-citizen cooperation is necessary for achieving positive social change, threats of civic disengagement, and suggestions to overcome the obstacles to democratic cooperation between citizens and state institutions across a range of policy areas and in varied national contexts. / 09 Jul 2019 - 09 Jul 2019.

Research and Public Engagement Funds, UK: Green Spaces, Travel Mode Choices and the Mental Health of University Students.

Somers Town History Museum Exhibition/ Event (8 Nov 2021)

A Big community and public event and exhibition reflecting on the long practices and efforts made by Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum, academics, and volunteers to raise awareness of Somers Town community and history. The event included exhibitions, screening, performances, workshops, talks and presentations. Dimah started to support Somers Town Community/ Neighbourhood as a volunteer back in March 2016. She participated in the Neighbourhood Forum’s response to Camden Council proposal on a big regeneration project in the neighbourhood. She has been in close and consistent collaboration with the neighbourhood in different modules she is leading at Westminster University concerning subjects of planning, architecture, real estate, and tourism. In one of the modules, Community Planning for Tourism, Somers Town is the real life project for this module for which the students are engaging with the community’s events and campaigns since 2019. For campaigns such as the conservation area, the students were involved in two workshops, Workshop I: “Collect” which involved a guided walk of the area, discussion of what to put in a community museum and celebrating the history by asking local people to bring their photos and talk about their memories. In another campaign, Workshop II: “Put it together”, Westminster students were involved in consultation on conservation and urban sketching walk/ Talks. In addition, and on top of supporting the community with the student’s findings and proposals on how to protect and preserve the neighbourhood’s heritage and history through community- led tourism, students are offered some paid/ unpaid internship opportunities to help the club and community with further research and events. The recent celebration of the history of Somers Town was through a big event and an exhibition in Nov 2021. This was followed by a series of other events aimed at further support and protection of the history, rights, identity, prosperity and wellbeing of venerable Somers Town community. https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/somers_town_museum/ / 08 Nov 2021

Somers Town History Museum Consultancy Workshops (4 Mar 2020- 8 Nov 2021)

Dimah, being an academic at the University of Westminster with a long-established collaboration with Somers Town Community on planning, regeneration, heritage, tourism, and levelling up and prosperity related events, practices, research and debates, has been invited by the Neighbourhood Forum to participate in the workshops concerning the development of Somers Town Conservation Museum. The workshops included stakeholder events, exhibitions, screening, performance, workshop, talks and presentations and panel's discussions. https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/somers_town_museum/ / 04 Mar 2020 - 08 Nov 2021.

Community- led Tourism consultancy reports produced by Westminster University’s students to the Community of Somers Town

In collaboration with Westminster planning, architectural, and tourism students, a number of consultancy reports were produced to inform the local tourism initiatives in Somers Town community. The reports looked at a live project for a vulnerable community which suffers for long from deprivation and exclusion and currently from gentrification threats. The reports were used by Somers Town community which found in the reports significant and valuable proposals and recommendations to protect and enhance the lives and prosperity of Somers Town local people using tourism-led community as a tool.

Design and Heritage for Somers Town Community: Comparison of Policies between Adopted Core Strategy 2010- 2025 and Draft Local Plan 2016- 2031

Dimah participated in Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum’s response to Draft Camden Local Plan 2016. This was in response to Camden Council's proposal of a major regeneration project to Somers Town community which is predicted to impact on the community's businesses, design and identity, history, welfare and wellbeing. Through the Localism Act of 2011, changes to the planning system gave communities greater power to influence policies and plans that affect their local area and lives. In March 2016, Dimah started volunteering for Somers Town community Planning. This voluntary work was an opportunity to explore the neighbourhood planning process and the neighbourhood plan that becomes part of the Local Planning Framework and guides new development.