Rounaq is an ESRC Policy Research Fellow seconded to the Wales Centre for Public Policy from Bournemouth University, where they work as a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability. Their role involves enhancing the understanding, capabilities, and skills of evidence generators, policy researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in involving people with lived experience in their work. The Fellowship is an 18-month collaboration between Dr Nayak, WCPP, and three other What Works Centres – the Centre for Ageing Better, Youth Futures Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact.
Rounaq is passionate about exploring the reciprocal relationship between organizations and local communities, analysing their mutual influence, and studying the sustainability implications. As a human factors specialist and a human geographer, Rounaq has worked on projects in agri-food and healthcare sectors, prioritizing a people-centred approach to service improvement. Their research interest lies in enhancing the resilience of the global agri-food system to challenges like food poverty, forced labour, and carbon trading by adopting a systems approach to policy design.