Karma Nabulsi receives Guardian's 'Inspiring Leader' award

Karma lectures on social movements and philosophies of war and peace to students in the department of politics and international relations at the University of Oxford, where she is currently director of undergraduate studies. She is a Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall, and an Oxford UCU equalities officer, and a member of the staff BME network. She recently directed "The Palestinian Revolution", a bilingual Arabic-English digital teaching resource exploring Palestinian revolutionary thought and practice in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Sponsored by the British Academy, the endeavour was a collaboration with universities, institutes and museums across the global south specialising in anti-colonial history.

This "Inspirational Leader" award  is for everyone at Oxford and universities across the UK: students, staff, and faculty, who are championing equality, curriculum diversity, and innovation in research and teaching on the global South every day

Professor Karma Nabulsi, winner of Inspiring Leader award

The award honours a leader who has brought out the best in their team and achieved exceptional results. They champion innovation and collaboration, deliver real change, and inspire the higher education community.

We look for examples of brilliance in all types of universities – and then we trumpet those successes to Guardian readers around the world

Judy Friedberg, Guardian universities editor

Of Karma, the judges said: 'Without her patience, dedication and commitment the experiences of numerous students at Oxford and elsewhere would have been immeasurably poorer. She avoids all self-celebration, but it is hard to imagine a more worthy recipient.'

'What is so fantastic is that, after being nominated by judges from the Higher Education sector, this award was chosen through a public vote,' said Karma. 'I know students’ participation was at the heart of this result and a real collective effort. So this "Inspirational Leader" award  is for everyone at Oxford and universities across the UK: students, staff, and faculty, who are championing equality, curriculum diversity, and innovation in research and teaching on the global South every day. This is such lovely encouragement!'

The Guardian’s universities editor, Judy Friedberg, said of the awards presented at Wednesday night's ceremony: 'We don’t judge all universities by the same clunky metrics. We look for examples of brilliance in all types of universities – and then we trumpet those successes to Guardian readers around the world.'