Biography

Professor Bela Arora joined Keele in 2022 and is contributing to strategic developments across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science. She is a member of the following Faculty level groups that support strategic planning and growth ambitions:

  • Portfolio and Curriculum Development
  • Internationalisation and Partnerships
  • Employability and Experiential Learning
  • Student Experience and Engagement

She has also been contributing to university level committees including:

  • Students as Partners
  • Graduate Attributes
  • Sponsorship
  • High-level speakers programme

Bela has considerable experience of leading on university-wide areas of quality enhancement. She has held roles as a Director of a Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching through to leading on the development of a Graduate School from inception. She has been an active member of university-wide student experience and student engagement committees at Russell Group and post-92 institutions.

Bela has held quality enhancement roles at national level. as the academic lead for Politics and International Studies at the former Higher Education Academy C-SAP subject centre and as an elected officer at the British International Studies Association,

She is a past Chair of the British-American Project, which is a transatlantic leadership network and now sits on the Advisory Board of the organisation.

For over 20 years, Bela has consistently engaged with government, business and the third sector. She has engaged in shaping and influencing public policy as a member of the following groups:

  • FCDO Strategy Director’s Expert Group
    U.K. Counterterrorism Evidence Based Review Group
    Welsh Government led Wales Anti-Slavery Leadership Group
    Welsh Government led Strategic Multi-Agency Resilience Training Certificate - Steering Group

She has previously worked at universities including Swansea, Warwick and Cardiff, where she engaged in lecturing, strategic planning and policy development.

Research and scholarship

Bela has engaged in scholarship and policy development related to pedagogic research. She has experience of research and consultancy at national & international level including high profile projects for the United Nations Global Compact, the British Standards Institute Sigma initiative and the International Business Leaders Forum on conflict diamonds.

Teaching

Bela has taught extensively for over 25 years in the field of international security. Her current areas of focus are human security, modern slavery, human trafficking and exploitation. She also teaches in Criminology.

School of Humanities
Chancellor's Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733109

Head of School
Dr Nick Seager
Room: CBB1.038 (Chancellor's Building, 'B' Extension)
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733142
Email: n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk

School and college outreach
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734009
Email: outreach@keele.ac.uk