Sandra Iman Pertek is an interdisciplinary mixed methods researcher, gender and social development specialist with expertise in faith and GBV and over a decade’s experience in international development and migration. She is a SEREDA Research Fellow, at the Institute for Research Into Superdiversity (IRiS), focussed on GBV across forced migration, policy and impact. In her PhD with SEREDA, Sandra explored the intersection of GBV and religion in forced migration in Turkey and Tunisia drawing upon an intersectional and ecological analysis. In her thesis, Sandra conceptualised religion as multidimensional: an intersectional vulnerability factor and a primary coping resource in the continuum of violence across stages of forced migration. Her continued research involves efforts to integrate concepts of intersectionality and resilience, in context of mental health and psychosocial support provision and GBV mitigation in forced migration and international development. Sandra also leads “Untold Stories: Voices of Forced Migrants and Survivors of Modern Slavery on the Mediterranean” project, and previously led the Forced Migration, SGBV and COVID-19 study. She consulted governmental and non-governmental organizations as gender and GBV specialist. For Home Office UK she developed a theory of change (TOC) for integration and TOC guide notes based on the Indicators of Integration framework. For GIZ, she conducted religious and traditional actors mapping in Zambia in relation to prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG) programme in Southern Africa. For Islamic Development Bank, she co-developed resources to integrate gender sensitivity into Islamic micro-finance programmes for women. Previously Sandra served as Senior Policy Adviser on Gender (Global Technical Lead) at Islamic Relief Worldwide, where she spearheaded a gender mainstreaming strategy, authoring its Gender Justice Policy and integrating gender into international programmes with faith sensitive approaches. She piloted GBV programmes in Africa and Asia in partnership with institutional donors. Sandra is a member of Leadership Council of the SVRI/JLI Faith & GBV Hub, and serves in the UN Women Roster for Eliminating Violence Against Women (EVAW) Spotlight Initiatives. She is a founder of a social interest advisory consultancy– EQUISTY Gender Lab. She holds an MSc in Social Development Practice (major in gender in policy and planning) from University College London and a BA in European Studies from the University of Warsaw.