Our Team | Mandated Shunning Research Project (MSRP) Experts

Dr. Savin Bapir-Tardy

Co-Principal Investigator, Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology, Chartered Counselling Psychologist, University of Roehampton (Department of Psychology)

Dr. Savin Bapir-Tardy is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, where she co-leads The Mandated Shunning Research Project, a research initiative investigating mandated shunning and coercive control in high-control religious communities. Her work examines how systemic exclusion and community-based ostracism impact psychological well-being, with a focus on developing evidence-based tools for support, intervention, and policy change.

Savin’s academic and clinical interests centre around trauma, coercive control, and abuse that is legitimised or hidden within cultural, religious, or institutional frameworks. Her doctoral research explored trauma and post-traumatic growth, and she has since spent over 17 years working with survivors of complex trauma, including those affected by religious abuse, "Honour"-Based Violence/Abuse (HBV/A), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and forced marriage.

Before entering academia, she worked as a counselling psychologist in a women’s rights organisation, providing psychological assessments and therapy for women and girls affected by honour-based abuse. Today, she combines clinical insight with research expertise, supervising doctoral students, leading research methods training, and teaching across postgraduate programmes in counselling and forensic psychology.

Dr. Savin is also active in policy and advocacy. She has contributed to UK parliamentary discussions on honour-based violence, worked with the One Law for All campaign, and appeared in public media, including BBC podcasts, to raise awareness of group-based abuse. She runs peer-led support groups for ex-Muslims through the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), helping those navigating the complex emotional, cultural, and social challenges of leaving high-control faith environments.

"Through both clinical and research work, I’ve witnessed the profound impact that exclusion and coercion have on people’s lives. This project is about recognising that harm—and building tools to challenge it. Too many survivors are left in the shadows—dismissed, disbelieved, or denied the language to name what they’ve lived through. The Mandated Shunning Research Project exists to change that: to bring their voices forward, to build evidence, and to push for systemic change." - Dr. Savin Bapir-Tardy

Dr. Windy Grendele

Co-Principal Investigator, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Roehampton (Department of Psychology)

Dr. Windy Grendele is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton, where she co-leads The Mandated Shunning Research Project, a research initiative investigating mandated shunning and coercive control in high-control religious communities.

Her academic career has centred on the psychological and social consequences of coercive control within faith-based settings. Her master’s research investigated the lived experiences of individuals shunned from the Jehovah’s Witness community, laying the groundwork for her doctoral study, which explored the exit process, the psychological effects of shunning, and the strategies individuals adopt to rebuild their lives after leaving.

Her current research seeks to develop an integrated theoretical framework for understanding mandated shunning, quantify its psychological impact, and advocate for its recognition as a human rights violation. At Roehampton, she also serves as Programme Leader for Psychology (Forensic and Criminal) and Module Leader for Forensic Psychology, where her teaching focuses on the intersection of psychology, law, and social justice.

"The Mandated Shunning Research Project is both a professional and personal endeavour for me—it's about giving voice to those silenced through religious coercion and abuse and raising awareness of the deep psychological harm caused by mandated shunning." - Dr. Windy Grendele

Dr. Marina Rachitskiy

Co-Investigator, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Roehampton (Department of Psychology)

Dr. Rachitskiy is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton and a Co-Investigator on the Mandated Shunning Research Project.

Her primary research interests lie in Social and Forensic Psychology, with a focus on behaviours that are socially-constructed as deviant. Her explores how societal perceptions, lived experience, and moral frameworks intersect to shape responses to individuals who challenge normative expectations.

Dr. Rachitskiy teaches on the Forensic Psychology MSc programme and supervises doctoral research across topics related to social deviance, stigma, and marginalisation. She brings a strong, practitioner-informed academic perspective to her teaching, supporting students in engaging critically with complex real-world issues.

Her previous research has focused on adolescent antisocial and prosocial behaviours, particularly examining how earlyexperiences and social dynamics influence cooperation with authority and law enforcement. She has also explored vigilante behaviour, investigating both how society interprets it and how such tendencies develop in young people.

More recently, her work has expanded to include a wider set ofbehaviours often perceived as deviant, including substance use, naturism, sexting, and paraphilias. She is particularly interested in how these behaviours are socially judged, the psychological predictors of their emergence, and the long-termconsequences for those who engage in them.

Through her role in the Mandated Shunning Research Project, Dr. Rachitskiy brings a critical lens to how stigma, societal labelling, and moral judgment marginalise individuals within high-control settings. Alongside her interest in these issues, she also brings a strong quantitative research lens, which helps the team explore patterns of coercion, exclusion, and social perception in arigorous, evidence-based way.

"When behaviours are labelled as deviant, it often says more about society’s fear of difference than the behaviour itself. Through the Mandated Shunning Research Project, I aim to explore how stigma and moral judgment contribute to the isolation and silencing of individuals in high-control environments and how we can better understand, support, and protect those who challenge these norms." - Dr. Marina Rachitskiy

Noosheen Lofti

Research Assistant, Trainee Counselling Psychologist, University of Roehampton (Department of Psychology)

Noosheen Lotfi is a Doctoral Candidate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton, where she serves as a Research Assistant on the Mandated Shunning Research Project; a research initiative exploring mandated shunning and coercive control within high-control religious communities.

Noosheen is an experienced Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Mental Health, and has spent over a decade working across crisis, community, and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Her clinical expertise encompasses trauma-informed care, complex psychiatric and neurodevelopmental presentations, and evidence-based psychological therapies, including CBT, DBT, and Mindfulness-Based approaches.

Before beginning her doctoral studies, Noosheen led research examining the effectiveness of therapeutic assessments and solution-focused therapy in reducing self-harm among adolescents, serving as Principal Investigator on the project. Her current doctoral research investigates the intersection of autism and gender identity, exploring how neurodiversity and gender diversity shape lived experience, self-concept, and access to psychological care.

Across her clinical and research work, Noosheen’s interests converge on the themes of identity, belonging, and recoveryfrom trauma, particularly how social, cultural, and institutional systems can both protect and harm psychological well-being. Through her involvement with the Mandated Shunning Research Project, she aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the impact of religious shunning and to the development of trauma-informed, inclusive approaches to therapy and support.

"Through my clinical work, I have witnessed both the protective power of faith and community in supporting mental wellbeing, and the profound harm that can arise when those same systems become sources of control,exclusion, or shame. I have seen how isolation, identity loss, and trauma can emerge from being shunned by one’s faith community, and how recovery ofteninvolves rebuilding both a sense of safety and a sense of belonging. My research and clinical practice have always centred on identity and inclusion; whether exploring how neurodiversity and gender intersect in my doctoral work, or examining how coercive systems can silence or marginalise those who challenge them. I am drawn to the Mandated Shunning Research Project because it seeks to give a voice to those whose experiences have often been overlooked or pathologised. By contributing to this study, I hope to deepen awareness of the psychological impact of mandated shunning and to inform therapeutic and systemic responses that recognise the resilience and complexity of survivors’ experiences." - Noosheen Lotfi

Rehnuma Choudhury

Research Assistant, Trainee Counselling Psychologist, University of Roehampton (Department of Psychology)

Rehnuma Choudhury is a PsychD Counselling Psychology doctoral student whose research explores the psychological and existential dimensions of feelings of exclusion and belonging. Her current doctoral work examines chronic feelings of emptiness as an existential and transdiagnostic experience, with a focus on its developmental and sociocultural underpinnings.

In previous research she investigated implementation barriers for carer support interventions in healthcare settings, focusing on systemic and relational obstacles to care. Across her research, Rehnuma is interested in how social structures and enforced silences such as those found in mandated shunning shape emotional experience, identity, and the capacity for connection.

She has clinically supported individuals navigating the complex emotional and identity consequences of being shunned from religious and cultural communities, witnessing firsthand how enforced exclusion can reshape a person’s sense of self and belonging.

"This project feels deeply meaningful to me because it examines what happens when belonging is weaponised and the human need for connection becomes a tool of control. I believe that understanding this process is crucial for healing and resistance for affected people." - Rehnuma Choudhury