Blerta Ilazi

Rights Lab Research Fellow in Employment, Recovery, and Mental Health

Email: blerta.ilazi@nhs.net

Blerta Ilazi is a healthcare professional who holds a studentship in the School of Health Sciences focused on migrant workforce integration through sustainable employment. She is part of the Rights Lab's Health and Communities Programme and is developing research on employment’s role in preventing exploitation and promoting wellbeing. A nurse by background and educator, she is delivering health inequalities training for clinicians across South Yorkshire. She founded ReSTORE, a refugee nursing programme that helps refugee nurses integrate into the NHS workforce through the NMC registration process and secure employment within the NHS. Her contributions to protecting health inclusion groups and promoting workforce diversity have been recognised with the NHS England National Safeguarding Award (2022) and the NHSE GEM Award for BAME Healthcare Professionals (2023). Blerta’s work champions trauma-informed employment and inclusive workforce policies, emphasising the impact of meaningful employment on recovery and mental health for migrants facing adversity.