Owais Rajput was born in Mirpur Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

He was based in Johannesburg from 1993 to mid-1995 doing work with local communities in Transvaal Province and other Southern African Countries. He moved to the UK in 1995 and settled in Bradford. He has eighteen years intensive practical hands-on experience, working with local communities using a bottom to top approach. He has a Masters degree in International Politics and Security Studies with a focus on International Terrorism from University of Bradford. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the British Association for Islamic Studies, British Sociological Association, Political Studies Association, European Sociological Association and American Sociological Association. He is a member of two working groups (RAN PREVENT & RAN INT/EXT) of the Radicalisation Awareness Network which is organised by DG Home Affairs European Commission, and he contributed to the UK Home Office Contest-III round the table consultation in February 2011. Owais started his current PhD in 2012 with Leeds Metropolitan University and his research project is entitled Counter-terrorism policy & radicalisation among UK citizens of Kashmiri heritage. He is working on Security, Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, Policy, Exclusion, Radicalisation, Marginalisation, and Identity. In his case studies he focused on disengaged local communities (British Kashmiri) living in the North of England using

an inductive approach (bottom to top). His work will be useful to those who are responsible generating Policy and Practice for local disengaged communities living in the UK/EU. Furthermore Owais engaged with ERASMUS International Street Work, Intensive Program and he is also working on a collaborative research approach project, on local communities living with in the Leeds West Yorkshire areas. Owais strongly believes in bottom to top approach politics means working with the people rather then top to bottom approach which means working on the people. Owais Rajput can be contacted on 07588486483 for further questions regarding his political thoughts.