Over the past eleven years, the Imam Hussain Blood Donation Campaign has grown to become the largest Muslim blood donation campaign in the country, reaching out to 26 cities within the UK. This incredible collective effort has not been unnoticed and the IHBDC is now the subject of a three year research project to study it’s contribution to British society.
The project is titled ‘Integration through blood donation’ and is led by Dr. Morteza Hashemi. He is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh and has written a number of papers and a book on the topic of post-secularism.
The project has two main objectives. Firstly, it looks to collect information on what motivates blood donors, what their understanding of the IHBDC campaign is and the reasons behind why they may encourage others to give blood.
Secondly, it looks to develop an understanding of the significance of blood donation on social relations and whether it can be used as a means of integration for immigrants into society.
To do so, over the coming years, he will be interviewing and observing IHBDC blood donors as well as arranging focus groups. So do not be surprised if you see him at your next donor session!
For the IHBDC to be the focus of this project is a tremendous illustration of how far we have come and we all wish Dr Hashemi the best for this exciting endeavor.
We will keep you updated! Feel free to contact us on giveblood@ius.org.uk for further information. Further details on the research project can be found here: http://www.san.ed.ac.uk/people/faculty/morteza_hashemi