MUNIRA MIRZA was the Deputy Mayor for Culture and Education for the Mayor of London, 2008-2016. She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Kent, UK. Prior to this she worked as a Research Fellow with the think-tank Policy Exchange, and worked in arts organisations including The Royal Society of Arts and Tate. She has published in the International Journal of Cultural Policy, the edited collection Pakistani Diasporas: Culture, Conflict and Change (2008), and a range of newspapers and magazines.