Meet Afsana
Gibson-Chowdhury Q.Med
Afsana Gibson-Chowdhury is an award winning and trailblazing figure in Dispute Resolution. Globally recognized as the founder of ‘GC Mediation and Training Ltd’, she is a prominent international mediator based in England and Canada. She is a Distinguished Fellow at the International Academy of Mediators.
Afsana was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2007 and entered the Roll of Solicitors in 2010. In 2019, Afsana established her mediation practice focusing in commercial and civil disputes, with a special focus on human rights discrimination.
In Mediation
Afsana Gibson-Chowdhury is the founder of GC Mediation and Training Ltd is a prominent international Mediator, based in the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada.
Afsana has a multi-disciplinary practice in Human Rights, Commercial and Civil Law and works across commercial and private industries, including workplaces, governmental bodies and the education sector. She facilitates multiparty dialogues and mediates processes on anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all forms of hate and human right violations.
Afsana is a Distinguished Fellow at the International Academy of Mediators, which ranks her as 220 “world’s most experienced commercial mediators”. She is a designated mediator and consultant for Mediators Beyond Border International.
Afsana served a full four-year term as Adjudicator for the Property Standards Committee in the City of Toronto, where she played a vital role in upholding standards and resolving property-related matters. As a highly regarded member of the ADR community, Afsana was asked served as an Adjunct Professor at Humber College teaching Ethics, Diversity and Power on the ADR Certificate Course.
Afsana has facilitated training, dialogues and mediated processes for clients, including the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Canadian Universities, Education Boards, local communities, religious organizations, law firms, charities, music and theatre companies and countless corporate organizations.
In Law and Training
Prior to launching her mediation practice, Afsana enjoyed several years working as a successful Solicitor.
Afsana, was called to the Bar in 2007 and is a permanent member of Lincoln’s Inn where she remains a non-practicing Barrister. She went further to compliment her legal career entered the Roll of Solicitor 2010.
She represented clients in Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice and Public Liability lawsuits dealing with complex injury claims for major law firms.
In Canada, Afsana completed her National Committee on Accreditations examination, which gained her a Canadian Law Degree (Juris Doctor) equivalent.
Afsana is a pioneer when is comes leading cultural competency training for lawyers and mediators.
Afsana’s flagship training course ‘Cultural Competence in Mediation’, is highly revered across the globe. Since then she has developed many courses, including ‘De-escalation’, ‘Microaggression in Mediation’ and ‘Ethics’.
She is currently the designated trainer for Ethics in Mediation for ADRIO (ADR Institute of Ontario).
Professional Impact
Since beginning her career as a mediator, Afsana has had worldwide impact in the mediation community. She served as the Chair (2022/2023 term) of the Ontario Bar Association’s ADR Section Executive Board, where she led initiatives to promote diversity in the mediation profession.
Her dedication to fostering inclusion is evident in the OBA Working Group’s groundbreaking report, ‘Neutral Diversity in Ontario.’ where she served as co-chair. This effort aims to enhance diversity within the mediation field and has taken effect. Afsana has further contributed to the field through her role as a committee member of the Winkler Institute, organizing cutting-edge material for the annual Winkler/Osgoode PD/IAM conference.
A respected figure in the international mediation community, Afsana is the DEI committee co-chair and the International Academy of Mediators. In this capacity, she actively contributes to developing equitable strategies and initiatives.
In 2022, Afsana helped to build a non-for-profit (Diverse Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada), which is an organisation that supports women and people of colour working in Dispute resolution.
She is a globally recognised speaker on cultural awareness in mediation and has attended numerous conferences and panels as a speaker.
Recognising for her outstanding contributions, Afsana is the proud recipient of the ADR Institute of Ontario Star Awards.
Education and Experience
Afsana pursued her legal education in Sheffield, where she gained an Undergraduate Degree in Law and Business. She went on to complete the Bar Vocational Course at the University of The West of England in Bristol.
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