Dr Sarabajaya Kumar

She teaches about leadership and the voluntary and non-profit sector to international civil servants and civil society leaders at University College London (UCL).

Her research interests are in accountability, governance, intersectionality, and ethical leadership. Her current research projects focus on disability, co-creation and artificial intelligence. She has received a GBSF Butterfield Award and a Churchill Fellowship for this work.

Dr Kumar is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA), a member of the Policy Committee of the Women's Budget Group, and a member Centenary Action’s Steering Group. She was a GLA 2021 list candidate for the Women’s Equality Party.

She’s also an accredited executive coach. She has extensive experience in coaching and mentoring university academics, grant-makers and social entrepreneurs.

Over the past three decades, Sarabajaya has founded and co-founded several not-for-profit organisations. These organisations worked in, or with, organisations and people experiencing disadvantage as a result of societal barriers.

Before her current role at UCL, Sarabajaya led initiatives in the voluntary sector, the National Health Service (NHS) and local government. She worked as a volunteer with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, and with community-based organisations in West Bengal, India. Her strong commitment to inclusion and social justice is the thread that links her paid and civic work.

Sarabajaya is also our senior independent trustee and a member of NCVO's audit and risk committee.