Mr Zulfi Ali

Zulfi has a background in international development, with over two decades of field experience in South Asia. His interests lie in postcolonial educational histories, as well as education for social and environmental justice, and peace education. His teaching and research at CCCU relate to these areas of interest.

Prior to moving to the UK, Zulfi was Director at the Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights in Karachi, Pakistan. This was a £4 million project aimed at delivering socially relevant education through a proactive, inclusive and innovative institutional model.

Zulfi has received the following acknowledgement for his work at CCCU:

2024 University Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
2024 CCSU* Golden Apple Award for Commitment to Community, Diversity and Inclusion
2023 Christ Church Staff Recognition Award for Outstanding Commitment to Sustainability
2023 CCSU Golden Apple Award for Commitment to Sustainability
2020 Member of the Sustainability team at CCCU that won the national Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence, given by Advance HE
2019 EUAC national Green Gown Award in the category ‘Sustainability Champion of the Year – Staff’
2019 CCSU Golden Apple Runner Up Award for Commitment to Sustainability
2018 University Teaching Excellence Early Career Award
2018 CCSU Golden Apple Award for Commitment to Sustainability
2017 CCSU Golden Apple Award for Faculty of Education

*Christ Church Students’ Union

Zulfi teaches on the Undergraduate Education Suite.   In the academic year 2024-25, he will be teaching the following modules:   Sustainability, Education and Action for Hope [Year 1] Social justice and the Pedagogy of Freedom [Year 1] International Education in a Postcolonial World [Year 2] Leading Education on a World Stage [Year 3] Refugees, Superdiversity and Community [Year 3]   Over the years he has led a range of modules, including Developing Criticality (Level 7), Historical and International Perspectives on ECE (Level 7), Policy and Practice (Level 7), Sustainability and the Global Village (Level 5), Contemporary issues in global politics (Level 5), and Human Rights and Citizenship Education (Level 6)

'Zulfi’s research interests include postcolonial educational histories, the political economy of education policy and delivery, and social and environmental education and activism.

He has been involved in the following projects:

2022 Deep Education and Community Level Activism: Responses to the Climate Emergency.
2018 Lead for the Postgraduate Academic Journey Review, CCCU.
2017 Evaluation of Youth Travel Ambassadors Project for Transport for London.
2017 Rainbow Centre Winter Shelter Evaluation.
2016 Department for Education Impact Assessment of the Adoption Subsidy Scheme.
2016 Ready for School Project Evaluation and Literature Review.
2015 Impact Assessment of Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.

While working in international development, Zulfi had extensive involvement in national, regional and international networks and worked with many international organizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, Save the Children, British Council, FCO, and Asia Foundation.

Zulfi is also the author/co-author or editor of eight illustrated books for children (in English and Urdu) on topics ranging from peace, tolerance, conflict resolution, participation, hope and social change, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (published in 7 languages).

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member, Society for Educational Studies, UK
Member, Global Campaign for Peace Education
Member, Canterbury SDG Forum
Member, Canterbury District Biodiversity Network
Coordinator, Project 93 at CCCU
Member, Board of Trustees, Kazzum Arts, London [https://www.kazzum.org/]
Advisor to the Board of Trustees, All Pakistan Music Conference, Karachi, Pakistan

Some external speaking activities:

Ali, Z. 2024. Demonstrating the Earth Charter as a unifier of global voices on social and environmental justice. Presentation at the Earth Charter Conference – Reimagining Education for Ecological Civilisations held in Orlando, USA.

Ali, Z. 2023. Education for Sustainable Development During Civilisational Collapse: The Need for Radical Structural Change. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Subdivision on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within the German Educational Research Association (GERA/DGfE) in Heidelberg, Germany.

On Existential Threats and the Need to Reorient Higher Education to Inspire and Nurture Youth Activism. Presentation at Leverhulme Trust funded conference on Youth Activism, Engagement and the Development of New Civic Learning Spaces, Budapest, Hungry, 2019.

Education, Children and Citizenship. Presentation at British Council International ‘Connecting Classrooms’ Conference, Nottingham, UK, 2009.

Neo-liberalism and Private-Public Partnerships: The Political Economy of Education in Pakistan. Presentation at the Policy Dialogue Conference held by Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational Development, in Quetta, Pakistan, 2005.

The Potential of Children’s Museums for Peace as Activist Organisations in the Developing World. Presentation at International Network of Museums for Peace Conference in Bilbao, Spain, 2005.

Innovations in Human Rights Education Delivery in Asia. Presentation in Osaka, Japan, 2004.

Investing in the Future: The Work of Human Rights Education Programme in Pakistan. Presentation at HURights Osaka, Osaka, Japan, 2001.

Education, Human Rights and Development in the Asian Context. Presentation given at the ‘Dialogue with Asia’ conference in Stockholm, Sweden hosted by the Swedish International Development Assistance. 2000.