Meet Zenobia Nadirshaw
In the next of our ‘Meet the committee’ articles, Peter Woods and Millie Dalton put the chair of the Special Group for Psychology and Social Care (PASC) under the spotlight.
10 October 2023
Zenobia (pictured left) is still such a busy person, even in retirement, that it has proved to be impossible for the Newsletter Editor Millie Dalton to get her to find time in her hectic schedule to write about herself.
So Millie and Peter Woods, PASC Honorary Treasurer, have trawled her lengthy CV, and drawn from a previous article about her that appeared in The Psychologist several years ago, to produce this piece.
Peter finally tracked Zenobia down to interview her about her life so far at a reception on the terrace of the House of Lords.
In the image below, Zenobia is on the right, with Peter on the left. Next to Peter is Irene Barlow, wife of the late Nick Barlow who was the founder and first Chair of PASC.
Family background
Zenobia was born and grew up in Mumbai, not far from the Bombay International Cricket Club. Her family was an upper middle class Parsee family. The Parsee community was driven out of Persia and went to Bombay in the 7th century.
They are Zoroastrians, an ancient religion which now has a large following in London, whose most recent famous son was Freddy Mercury. Zenobia knew him as Farokh Bulsara, and still sees his sister, Kashmira, and other members of the family regularly.
Zenobia was the President of the World Zoroastrian Organisation, and she is still a member of its committee. She passionately promotes her cultural and religious identity.
Career progression
Zenobia studied for her first degree and her Masters in Psychology at a college and the University in Bombay. Her twin sister, who still lives in Mumbai, also graduated in psychology from Bombay University.
In 1981, Zenobia married Zubin in Bombay. They had previously moved to London and Zenobia spent many years in the Learning Disability Psychology Service at Harperbury Hospital in Hertfordshire, rising through the ranks until she became the Head of Service and Leader of its resettlement programme, which led to the successful closure of the hospital.
She then moved to the Royal Borough of Chelsea and Kensington, where she was appointed as Head of Psychology and Clinical Lead of its Joint Health and Local Authority Intellectual Disability Service.
Championing BAME rights
It was during the years of resettlement that Zenobia began to understand the impact of cultural clashes and misunderstandings between services and individuals from Black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
Zenobia became a founder and champion of the campaign for recognition of the needs of BAME communities in the BPS and in local authority and NHS services. She was lauded for that work in an article about her contribution to the BPS in The Psychologist in 2020.
The BPS presented her with an award for 'Challenging inequality of opportunities' in Edinburgh in 1997, and she received an Honorary Life Member Award of the British Psychological Society in 2016.
Other achievements
She had already received the British Medical Association 2001 Book of the Year Award for Clinical Psychology, Race and Culture: A Training Manual. She was made a professor at Exeter University and has three Honorary Doctorates for her teaching and publications.
The list of Zenobia’s achievements and awards is too long to list in full, but they include:
- The TIAW ‘World of Difference Award’ (2012), which she received alongside Hilary Clinton in Washington DC
- The ‘Inspiring Woman of the Year Award’ (2016)
- ‘Key to the City of London’: An honour bestowed at the Guildhall, City of London (2017)
- Last but not least, Zenobia received an MBE at Buckingham Palace from Prince William in 2019 (see picture to the left)
Zenobia has chaired the Special Group for Psychology and Social Care for several years and held it together through the lock-down years of the pandemic. She is still fighting on its behalf and shows no signs of letting up!
Finally, Zenobia likes to eat out and has a penchant for Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisines. And, of course, she is a big fan of Dishoom, which serves her beloved Bombay café dishes.