The Westminster Conversations: Towards An Anti-Racist University conference was held on 12 May 2022 at the University of Westminster. It featured five sessions with over 22 speakers.
As part of our commitment to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion, the University of Westminster is keen to provide a platform for honest conversations that enable prejudices to be challenged, narratives of lived experience to be shared and ideas to be exchanged on how to make higher education work equitably for all. The conference held on 12 May 2022 reflects that commitment. It was part of a Quintin Hogg Trust-funded Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Programme, titled Community and Communities: Supporting and Celebrating Diversity, taking place at the University of Westminster and was organised in partnership with the Democratic Education Network student project.
Professor Dibyesh Anand, a lead organiser of the conference and the University’s EDI Committee’s Co-Chair, set the context: “Anti-racism work is never going to be on-off. It is ongoing; it is inter-sectional; it is a labour of love, of anger as well as hope. At our University, we have a strong commitment to work together within and beyond the institution to make the higher education sector anti-racist.”
The speakers included students, PhD researchers and early career as well as senior academics, from different universities. The conference opened with a roundtable discussion on student partnerships and co-creation as anti-racist tools. Student-academic teams from diverse disciplines gave examples of the challenges of and opportunities for co-creation. The examples included ‘Democratic Education Network’, ‘decolonial approaches to the legal curriculum’, ‘pedagogies for social justice’ and ‘understanding genetics to counter racial discrimination’.
Dr Sobia Razzaq, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Organisations, Economy and Society, and the Chair of the roundtable, said: "I am even more convinced the way forward is to embed student co-creation in our teaching practice as a norm and not an exception as the panel clearly illustrated the positive transformative power it had on all those that engaged in this approach."
The conference participants and speakers acknowledged that anti-racism work within institutions is challenging.
Dr Ben Pitcher, a Reader in Sociology at the University of Westminster and the Chair of the second panel on “the University as a racialised institution”, summarised the discussion: “Professor Kalwant Bhopal, Dr Harshad Keval and Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury reflected on the ways in which the socially liberal patina of the diverse and inclusive institution can distract from the ways in which contemporary universities are complicit in reproducing and legitimating racism and racialised inequality.”
Responding to a question later on the overall experience of the conference, Dr Joseph-Salisbury, a Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities at the University of Manchester, said: “It was really nice to be in such a welcoming space with so many people talking about anti-racism and the role of universities. There were some great discussions and some really inspiring inputs from students and PhD researchers. I’m grateful to colleagues at Westminster for creating the space, and I’ll look forward to the conference next year.”
Participants were particularly heartened by a special afternoon panel chaired by Dr Rumy Begum, a Senior Lecturer in Life Sciences, on “researching while Black: negotiating claims and realities as PhD researchers”, where the University’s very own PhD researchers Lonceny Kourouma, Stephanie Ifill, Kevon Jones and Henry Egbums participated.
Stephanie Ifill, reflecting on the panel and on the entire day, said: “Being one of the few Black women PhD researchers in the UK, knowing that I am up against gendered racialised institutions; this conference gave space for that reality to be seen and acknowledged. Including people like me, from groups who have historically and traditionally been barred from having a voice within academic institutions is not the conclusion of the tale; rather, it is merely the beginning. This conference provided a starting point for a sorely needed dialogue!”
Dr Rumy Begum, who chaired the panel, said: "The energy and excitement that shone through as our panel of PhD students spoke about their experiences thus far of researching while Black was wonderful. How they got to their post, their plans moving forward and the cohesion they already felt in their journey (given many of the panel members started at a similar time) will certainly help future applicants see the potential of postgraduate research opportunities. I wish our panel all the best on their PhD journeys, which will no doubt bring about many character building and enriching experiences."
A session entitled “decolonising the University: easier said than done” involved Professor Anand in conversation with Professor Priyamvada Gopal, a public intellectual and a professor at the University of Cambridge. They covered a wide range of subjects including the role of student activism, the risks of challenging the status quo, the importance of resilience and self-care, the value of camaraderie and self-reflection, and the need not to paper over intra-BAME* differences.
The final panel was chaired by Dr Deborah Husbands, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Co-chair of University’s Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Network.
Dr Husbands facilitated a conversation on “Towards an Anti-Racist University: mapping the territory” and said: “Professor Jason Arday, Professor Winston Morgan, Dr Dave Thomas and Rianna Walcott looked at what it takes to decolonise the institution through the lens of their 'untold' stories, including allies as co-conspirators and the importance of 'ubuntu' (inspired by the South African practice of collective action) to offset emotional labour for colleagues involved in the shift from complacency to anti-racism in our institutions.”
Closing the conference, Professor Alex Hughes, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement and Employability and Co-chair of the University’s EDI Committee, noted that “the conference represented a powerful intervention in debates on anti-racist work in higher education. Bringing together speakers from inside and outside the University of Westminster, it challenged all of us to think about how and where that work is being, and should be, taken forward. It reminded us of the critical roles played by higher education leadership and allyship in anti-racist endeavour. And it reminded us always to include the voices of students in the work.”
Reflecting on the conference, Professor Anand said: “We all learnt a lot; the energy in the room was amazing. If I had to pick out one single lesson from the conference, it'd be that there is no alternative but to relentlessly struggle to build an anti-racist university; giving in to despair is not an option if we want a more inclusive institution and a more just society.”
Learn more about the University of Westminster’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
*BAME: Black, and Asian Minority and Ethnic
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