Islamabad: A Pakistani-origin woman has been named the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Robina Shah, a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, will be sworn in a ceremony at the University’s Whitworth Hall on April 12.

Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, Syed Ibne Abbas will also attend the installation ceremony as a goodwill gesture.

“I am truly honoured and humbled to be appointed by her majesty the Queen to take the role of High Sheriff. It is a huge privilege to be the custodian of this historic public service role and I promise to serve the people of Greater Manchester with dignity, humility and sincerity throughout my year of office,” Dr Shah said.

Robina plans to use her year in office to promote programmes that help vulnerable people — especially children.

Queen Elizabeth II ‘personally’ marked Dr Shah’s name from a parchment called the “Lites” with recommendations for the post of High Sheriff.

Each year in April, the Queen marks the selected name with a small hole made by a bodkin in a ceremony believed to date back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, according to a statement from the University of Manchester.

The university defines the Office of High Sheriff as a year-long independent non-political royal appointment dating back to Saxon times, when the ‘Shire Reeve’ was responsible to the king for the maintenance of law and order within the shire (or county) and for the collection and return of taxes due to the Crown.

The role of the office of High Sheriff, which has a history of more than 1,000 years, is to support the Crown and the judiciary. They also support the police, emergency services, probation, prison services and voluntary sector organisations.

However, today the role is mainly honorary and charitable and High Sheriff receives no remuneration.

Dr Shah, MBE JP DL, has an extensive public service record spanning over 25 years.

She is the first British-Pakistani woman to achieve this honour from the Queen.

Dr Shah is a Chartered Consultant Psychologist and Director of University of Manchester’s Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience — a ground-breaking centre which involves patients and the public in the training of doctors.

Dr Shah, a graduate of the University is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine Open Section Council.

A Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, she has also been Chair of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and held regulatory and associate roles at the General Medical Council and Health Education England North West.

The academic is also passionate about football and is as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Manchester FA and the Football Association Women’s Football Board and Disability Football Committee.