As part of the University of Westminster’s ongoing effort to ensure equal access to research opportunities, the School of Social Sciences offered dedicated studentships for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) PhD applicants from under-represented backgrounds starting their studies in September 2021. The University is pleased to introduce the recipients of these studentships.
Lonceny Kourama joins the University of Westminster for his PhD which will focus on decolonisation, anti-racism, and the awarding gap through a sociological lens. Lonceny came to London from Guinea in 2003 and has had an unconventional journey in academia through activism. He is interested in working collaboratively with scholars and students with the mission to decolonise education.
Kevon Jones - Politics and International Relations
Kevon Jones, who is based in Politics and International Relations, will be investigating and rethinking the concept of sovereignty in international relations through the intellectual and material dynamics of Pan-Africanism as an anti-racist and anti-colonial project.
Henry Egbums - Psychology
The third recipient of the School of Social Sciences’ PhD studentship is Henry Egbums, whose research involves measuring children’s values in Africa using the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C). Henry is based in Psychology, and his research will be the first study of its kind on children’s values, value structure and priorities in Africa.
Stephanie Ifill - Politics
In addition to the three holders of BME studentships whose research will help in diversifying and decolonising higher education, the School is also welcoming a Quintin Hogg Trust studentship holder working in cognate areas of anti-racism and anti-sexism.
QHT studentship recipient Stephanie Ifill will conduct research on ‘Black Diaspora Women in Postcolonial White Spaces’, and her goal is to add to Black postcolonial feminist thought on consciousness and displacement of Black diaspora women in white postcolonial spaces in Europe. Her exploratory research is about the advancement of insight into a specific lived location of self in terms of the Black woman’s body and the micro space within postcolonial white local and macro spaces in Europe.
Professor Dibyesh Anand, Head of the School of Social Sciences and co-chair of University’s BME Network and EDI Committee, said: “Diversity is not a tick box exercise for us, but a commitment to foster an inclusive culture where persistent under-representations along specific identity lines are challenged through positive action. We are humbled by the overwhelming response to our studentship call, excited to host amazing new researchers, and hopeful that more academic disciplines and universities in the UK will challenge systemic marginalisation in the higher education sector and beyond through a fuller commitment to positive action and anti-racism.”
Find out more about studentships offered at the University of Westminster.
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