Syed Haleem Najibi

Trustee

Syed is one of Phosphoros Theatre’s founder members, having joined way back in 2016. He performed in Dear Home Office, Dear Home Office Still Pending, Pizza Shop Heroes, and All the beds I have slept in, as well as various other bespoke projects we have led. He was a facilitator in our Young Company between 2019-2023, and has also led over 150 workshops for refugee youth, schools, students and professionals, and led our Shama Project for Afghan new arrivals living in hotels. He has spoken about his work with Phosphoros and his experiences as an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker at conferences, festivals and multiple national and international press outlets, including BBC, Al Jazeera, Sky News, The Guardian, The Independent. In 2018 he co-authored a paper with Kate as part of the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling Annual Conference, called In my chicken shop people look at me like I’m nothing, but these people pay to hear my story. He has also co-authored a chapter with Kate in Crisis for Whom? Published by UCL Press in 2023, titled Disrupted narratives: interconnected care and co-responsibility in theatre making processes with refugee performers.

Syed received an Article 26 scholarship for asylum seekers which enabled him to do a four year MEng Sustainable Energy Engineering degree at Queen Mary University of London. After graduating in 2023  he started working in the sustainability team at global real estate firm JLL, and sadly had to leave Phosphoros Theatre’s frontline work. Fortunately for us, he remains on our board of trustees and contributes his knowledge from working within the refugee arts sector.