Consultancy & Research

White Allies Resource

This unique interactive guide is sponsored by two corporate organisations and aims to support white colleagues who are keen to improve their understanding and engagement with racial justice. Designed to be used by individuals or as part of a facilitated group, the White Allies Resource includes practical tips to implement in the workplace, suggested readings and a useful glossary of terms.

Black female professors

Black women are least likely to be professors compared with any other group. In 2018, I spoke with 20 of the then 25 UK Black female professors. Published in 2019, my research revealed the barriers faced by Black female scholars as they work to navigate higher education, the impact on their well-being and the strategies they use to help them reach professorship.

It was the first time that anyone had carried out research on this little-known group of academics. So, determined to give a platform to these women given their journeys and achievements, I then commissioned the photographer Bill Knight to take their portraits.

The full findings are detailed in the report Staying Power: the career and experiences of Black female professors.

PHENOMENAL WOMEN

The Phenomenal Women exhibition went on display at London Southbank Centre in 2020 and the University of Cambridge in 2021. It includes Black female scholars who were professors at a UK higher education institution between 2016 and 2019. The private view of Phenomenal Women took place at the law firm Paul Hastings in March 2020.

News about the research and exhibition was covered by: The Guardian; BBC News; Stylist; The Voice Newspaper; TimeOut; and The Financial Times carried a special feature where they interviewed me about the project.

Advisory Roles

Advisor, Being Black in the United Kingdom, research carried out by the US firm Coqual (January - July 2022)

Senior Advisor (Race & Higher Education) to the Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge (October 2020 - present)

Specialist Advisor, Macpherson Inquiry: 22 Years On Home Affairs Select Committee (January 2019 -December 2021)

Member, Anti-racism Expert Group, Wellcome Trust (November 2022 - March 2022)

Member, Equality & Diversity Advisory Group, British Science Association (January 2019 - December 2021)

Black middle classes and education

This research examines, for the first time in the UK, the experiences of Black British middle-class families as they work to navigate their children successfully through the education system. We found that although these families possess and make use of class related strategies these alone are not sufficient to help avoid continued setbacks and barriers in the school system.

The full findings are discussed in the book The Colour of Class: the educational strategies of the Black middle classes.