We are delighted to invite you to the 19th annual Stephen Lawrence Memorial Lecture to help raise vital funds for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which works to inspire and support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in the career of their choice.

Centred on the Trust’s belief that the world around us should represent the people who live in it, this year’s lecture will focus on the themes and early findings of our young person-led, community participatory research project called ‘Connecting People & Places’. Funded by Historic England and launched in response to ‘The Race Diversity Survey’, which was published in collaboration with the Architecture Journal in 2018, the research aims to identify and celebrate the built environment within the context of BAME local community and heritage.

Connecting People and Places set out to ask the question: how have BAME communities had a voice in the planning and design of sites that are significant to them? The people and narratives behind the buildings highlighted in our research have shaped our approach, and on the 10th September we will be sharing their stories, hearing from our student researchers about their findings and talking to others involved in the project about what heritage means to them.

The evening will be led by our young researchers, and will culminate in a panel with guests including:

Sandra Stancliffe is responsible for education, inclusion and volunteering at Historic England and has worked in the field of heritage learning for 22 years. After training as a primary school teacher and completing a Museum Studies post graduate diploma, Sandra worked at Derby museums, Tullie House Museum in Carlisle and had several roles at Bristol Museums. Sandra is a governor of a primary school in Bristol, a trustee of the Bristol Architecture Centre and a member of the National Trust’s external advisory panel for collections and interpretation.

Satwinder Samra is Director of Collaborative Practice, a MArch course at Sheffield University aimed at making the profession more open to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. Satwinder also leads a studio focusing on intergenerational architecture as well as supporting leading architecture practices as an advisor and collaborator. His work promotes inclusion and diversity, ultimately aiming to make architecture accessible for all.

Dr Shawn Sobers is trustee of Fairfield House in Bath, supporting its next phase into a Community Land Owned building. He is Associate Professor for Lens Media at University West of England. Bath-born and bred, Shawn has been associated with Fairfield House for two decades, including in directing and producing a documentary in 1999 about its history and connection with the Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, and the Rastafari movement.

Chair: the panel will be Co-chaired by Alice Fung & Yasmin Teniola Idris

A trained architect, Alice is one of the co-founders and directors of 00 with expertise across urban design and regeneration, development strategy and start up enterprise, specialising in co-working workspaces and institutions, micro SME sector development, and social/impact investment projects. Alice also has experience in affordable housing, institutional and urban planning, and intelligent workspace environments.

Currently, her role includes the development of business models, employment space and development strategies for a range of public and third sector organisations which typically include implementation on an existing physical site. She is a co-author of Places that Work, a research report that proposes a new approach to delivering schemes that co-locate light industrial and other productive commercial space with homes. Her former projects include the regeneration strategy for Somerset House and Compendium for the Civic Economy, 25 case studies of this civic economy showcasing new organising tactics, ways of connecting with people and approaches to collaborative investment.Alice is currently appointed to the GLA’s Special Assistance Team for Workspaces and is a Mayor’s Design Advocate; in this role she is consulting on the operational viability of various workspace proposals and feasibility studies across several London local authorities.

Yasmin is a part 1 architect, artist, designer and model. She grew up in London and Nigeria. Graduated from De Montford University in 2018. She has developed an innovative design platform called MaybeArt which celebrates the combination of art and architecture, dedicated to honor African architecture, raise mental health awareness and develop a modern design aesthetic for Nigeria.

Following the panel discussion, there will be live music and an opportunity to network.