Projects
Maya has delivered and contributed to a wide range of heritage, culture community and outreach initiatives, grounded in high-quality research, through her roles at universities and through independent collaborations.
Her work includes curating and delivering outdoor exhibitions, speaking to corporate audiences during South Asian Heritage Month, and providing historical and cultural consultancy for television productions. Below is a snapshot of some of these projects.
Consultancy Work
Storytelling in a technology innovation project
GATEKEEPER was a EUH2020 flagship project. Through the project a healthcare app was designed to matchmake requests for caregiving support and volunteer work in the local community. Maya’s role in a collaboration with Dr Alessio Antonini and the Knowledge Media Institute (The Open University) oscillated around the collection of rich qualitative data through a cross-disciplinary approach. Together they experimented with a humanities approach to narrative-based impact collection, in a technology innovation project.
Exploring Croatian reading memories
Using exciting new digital tools developed by READ-IT this pilot project explored the reading memories and contemporary reading habits of readers in Croatia. Maya is leading on a collaborative workshop and outreach strands, enabling the project to reach broad audiences. The project is the result of a collaboration between the Open University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Science (Dr. Shafquat Towheed and Dr Alessio Antonini) and the Remembering Literature in Everyday Life project (PoKUS) based at Zagreb University, Croatia.
Expulsion: 40 Years On
2012 was the 40th anniversary of Idi Amin’s expulsion order, which deracinated thousands of people of South Asian origin from their settled homeland in Uganda. Expulsion: 40 Years On commemorated these life-changing events, during a community day event and school workshops in Leeds, in partnership with Leeds Museums and Galleries as well as South Asian Arts. The project, designed and delivered by Maya, was sponsored by the University of Leeds and Arts Council England. Read a blog post about the project.
Inclusion and Diversity West Panel for ITV Anglia
The Inclusion and Diversity West Panel for ITV Anglia meets regularly to drive inclusion, share best practices, and improve representation across programming and organisational initiatives. The panel brings together regional experts from media, culture, and education to advise on storytelling, cultural context, and equitable audience engagement. Maya contributes her expertise, providing guidance on inclusive narratives and ensuring that programmes reflect diverse communities and lived experiences.
Research Roles
Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1830s to the Present
A collaborative Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research project, Remaking Britian was led by the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University of London, in partnership with the British Library. The project highlighted how South Asian people and communities have effected social, political and economic change from the 1830s to the Present. The project produced an interactive digital resource exploring the links amongst South Asians across the UK, called South Asian Britain: Connecting Histories. Maya was a Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London (2023-2025), and delivered the oral history strand of the project with Dr. Rehana Ahmed. She collected near 30 oral history interviews, or around 100 hours of narrative, from South Asians all over the UK.
Reading Europe Advanced Data Investigation Tool
This pan-European project was a collaboration between 5 academic partners and 1 SME, across 4 European countries. Known as READ-IT, the project firstly built large-scale, open-access, digital investigation tools that help reveal and record evidences of European reading heritages between the 18th and 21st century. Secondly, it shared and engaged public readers. READ-IT had an interdisciplinary framework, oscillating between the digital humanities, computer research, humanities and sociology. Led by Le Mans University, the The Open University strand was directed by Dr. Shafquat Towheed. At the Open University, Maya helped lead the outreach and dissemination elements of READ-IT. Funded by the European Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage grant (830,000Euros) the project ran for just over 3 years, 2018-2021. Take a look at Maya’s short who’s who video, about her role with READ-IT.
At the Heart of the Nation: India in Britain
This UK-wide, collaborative project commemorated the 70th anniversary of Indian independence. At the Heart of the Nation celebrated the unknown narratives of Indian lives and communities in Britain and their crucial role in the formation of Britain, throughout several centuries. The project produced a stunning photographic exhibition that toured the UK and a digital timeline. With Project Director Professor Susheila Nasta (the Open University), and Dr. Florian Stadtler (the University of Exeter), Maya worked on the project as a Researcher (The Open University, 2015-2018). Following on from Making Britain and Beyond the Frame, At the Heart of the Nation was supported by the Open University, the University of Exeter, the Nehru Centre and the High Commission of India.
Making Britain & Beyond the Frame
Led by Professor Susheila Nasta, these two groundbreaking projects examined and showcased the contributions South Asians made to Britain’s literary, political and cultural life, 1870-1950. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Maya worked on the outreach elements of the projects 2013-2015. Beyond the Frame: Indian British Connections extended from a major, collaborative, interdisciplinary project Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870-1950, which produced the open-access, interactive Making Britain database.
Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present
Led by Dr. Shafquat Towheed at The Open University, this project sought to answer questions about reading habits by investigating historical reading practices, and demonstrating their relevance to us today. The outreach project staged a series of events around the UK, including hands-on workshop sessions, round-table discussions, expert public lectures, oral history interviews, and literary readings. Maya led the themed oral history collection elements of the project. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the one-year project ran 2015-2016.
