This in-person event will be opened by the Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Leicester, Professor Nishan Canagarajah, and will include refreshments.

At Leicester, 12.7% of our student population is Black, and of our staff population, only 2.3% are Black. We therefore feel that it is really important for students to have opportunities to celebrate Black history as well as celebrate Black role models and have a forum to discuss issues that UK and International Black students and academics may face. It is of equal importance for allies to actively explore how they can support their colleagues and students who belong to ethnic minority groups. This event aims to establish a safe space for informative, progressive conversations to be had.

In the College of Life Sciences, we do fantastic research which benefits our communities. We therefore welcome researchers at any level to make poster submissions to be presented on the day. Poster submissions can be made to clsedi@le.ac.uk.

Agenda

12.30 Lunch and poster viewing in the Atrium

13.25 Welcome and Introduction, Lecture Theatre 2 (first floor). Vice Chancellor Professor Nishan Canagarajah will open the event. Tumisang Ntereke and Vimbai Mamombe will give an overview to the event background and the team behind this work

13.40 Supporting Race Equality and Allyship in the College of Life Sciences, Professor John Maltby

13:50 Panel Session: Challenges Faced by Black Students, Facilitated by Dr Diana Pinto, a panel of students at various stages of their studies will discuss challenges they have faced, and things that have made a positive difference.

14.30 Break

14.40 My Journey as a Black Academic, Shelton Giwa, DeMontfort University

15.00 My Journey as a Black Student in Academia, Danielle Watkis, University of Oxford (University of Leicester graduate)

15:10 Diversity Statistics Overview, Professor Dean Fennell

15.20 What can we do better? Small group discussion session

15.50 Break

16.00 Looking forward, Dr Paul Campbell, University of Leicester Institute for Inclusivity in Higher Education, Dr Diana Pinto, Race Equality Lead, College of Life Sciences

16.20 Closing remarks, Nic Farmer, Liberation Officer, Leicester Students’ Union

This in-person event will be opened by the Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Leicester, Professor Nishan Canagarajah, and will include refreshments.

A﻿genda

Agenda

Black Symposium