Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham

Lord Nazir Ahmed was the first Muslim peer at the House of Lords. He is a graduate of Thomas Rotherham College, and Sheffield Hallam University. Later, he went on to build a career as a business development manager while keeping actively involved in his local community. He was a local councillor during the 1990s, as well as serving as a JP on the magistrates' bench, chairing the South Yorkshire Labour Party for four years and acting as a non-executive Director of Rotherham Health Authority.

He was raised to the peerage as Baron Ahmed, of Rotherham in the County of South Yorkshire in 1998.

Julia Babette Sarah Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, DBE

Baroness Neuberger is a graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Leo Baeck College, London, and is former Chief Executive of the Kings Fund, an independent charitable foundation aiming to improve health, especially in London. Previously she has been Chair of Camden and Islington CHS NHS Trust ('93-'97), Visiting Fellow, Harkness Fellowship Harvard Medical School ('91-'92), Visiting Fellow, Kings Fund Institute ('89-'91) and Rabbi, South London Liberal Synagogue ('77-'89). She has been Chair of the Patients' Association, and holds Trusteeships of the British Council, Imperial War Museum and formerly Runnymede Trust. She is also a Vice President of the United Nations Association and is Patron of the North London Hospice, Patron of the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund and Patron of the Memorial Arts Charity.

Baroness Neuberger speaks on Health for the Liberal Democrats at the House of Lords.

Professor Mona Siddiqui, Ph.D, DLitt (HON), FRSE, FRSA

Professor Mona Siddiqui has a BA Honours in Arabic and French from the University of Leeds (1984). She gained the Membership of the Institute of Linguistics with Distinction in spoken French (1985). She has an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Manchester (1986) and a Diploma in TEFL from Linguarama School at Manchester (1989). She received her PhD (University Scholarship) in Classical Islamic Law from the University of Manchester (1992).

She is the Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and the Director for the Centre for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow.

Lord Turnberg

Lord Turnberg was Professor of Medicine at the University of Manchester, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Hope Hospital Salford, and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He has been the Chairman and President of several high profile medical organisations and Boards which include: the Royal College of Physicians, the Medical Royal Colleges, The Board of the Public Health Laboratory Service, and the UK Forum on Genetics and Insurance.

Currently Lord Turnberg is the President of the Medical Protection Society, Chairman of the Health Quality Service and Scientific Advisor to the Association of Medical Research Charities.

Mehri Niknam MA, MBE, Executive Director

Mehri Niknam was born and brought up in Iran. Her academic field is Comparative Medieval Jewish-Muslim History, on which she has lectured at several universities, including the University of Sussex and Birkbeck College, London. She has been a Jewish-Muslim consultant for over 15 years and considers her work a vocation.

In 2005, she was awarded an MBE for her contributions to Muslim-Jewish Relations in Britain. In the same year she was made an Honorary Fellow at Leo Baeck-Centre for Jewish Education for her services to the College's Jewish-Muslim Interfaith Relations.

She is a member of Imams and Rabbis Committee and Academics & Theologians Roundtable at the department of Communities and Local Government and a regular contributor to the BBC World Service.