Image: Dr Margaret Byron speaking at the National Theatre’s “Culture After Windrush” debate
Inaugural Dr Azeezat Johnson Annual Workshop
The inaugural Dr Azeezat Johnson Annual Workshop will take place on Thursday 25th August 2022 from 12.00 – 16.00 via Zoom. The RGS-IBG annual conference theme is ‘Geographies Beyond Recovery’. One of the guiding questions for the conference is ‘What conditions enable people’s survival and resistance, and the rebuilding of places and environments that support the flourishing of life?’ This question resonates with Dr Johnson’s praxis and unwavering political commitment to an ethic of care. The workshop therefore takes up this question with a focus on early career researchers (ECRs) and pre-career researchers (PCRs – undergraduates and PGTs).
Part A ‘Supporting the flourishing of Black life’: 12.00 -13.45
This session provides an informal problem-discussion space for PCRs and ECRs of colour to share their aspirations, insights, and experiences. The discussion will be supported by members of RACE as part of efforts to reconstruct higher education environments so that PCRs and ECRs of colour can flourish.
Part B ‘Survival and resistance in the academy’: 14.15 – 16.00
The afternoon session takes up the theme of ‘survival and resistance’. There will be several short talks from RACE members, including reflections on Dr Johnson’s pioneering scholarship, followed by an open discussion.
If you have questions or topics that you would like to raise/be discussed, please contact the RACE Secretary j.esson@lboro.ac.uk
Please sign up for the workshop here.
Creating real opportunities for Black futures in Geography
Part of the RGS Annual Conference, this is the RACE working group pre-conference, focusing on early-career black and brown geographers. The event will be on Tuesday 31st August 10.30-3.00.
The morning session (10.30-12.30) will focus on early career researchers (ECRs) and pre-career researchers (PCRs – undergraduates and PGTs). It will be led by Professor Parvati Raghuram (Open University), and is an informal problem-discussion session for black and brown UG/PG/ECRs. If you have questions that you would like to raise/be discussed, please contact parvati.raghuram@open.ac.uk.
The afternoon session (1-3pm) is called ‘Creating real opportunities for Black futures in Geography’. This will be more formal, with a couple of short talks, followed by discussion and action planning.
You can register for this free event here.
Towards guidelines for good practice in supervising Black Geography PhD students
Date and time: Wednesday, 30th June 2021, 11-12am UK time
Venue: Online – for a FREE link to enter, please register:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/towards-guidelines-for-good-practice-in-supervising-black-geography-phd-stu-tickets-160016470571
About this event
This roundtable event will discuss good practice in the supervision of Black Geography PhD students in the UK
Chair: Dr Pat Noxolo (University of Birmingham)
Roundtable Participants: Victoria Okoye (University of Sheffield, author of a new report on the supervision of black PhD students in Geography); Dr James Esson (Loughborough University); Dr Margaret Byron (Leicester University) and Dr Angela Last (Leicester University).
Funded by the Royal Geographical Society’s Ray Y Gildea Award, and based on interviews with Black PhD students, a postdoctoral fellow and supervisors, this roundtable event will discuss good practice in the supervision of Black Geography PhD students. Despite its crucial role in reproducing academic research, PhD supervision is one of the least-discussed areas of higher education teaching. Yet the low recruitment, low funding and high withdrawal rates of black PhD students, across all disciplines, is well publicised (Williams et al, 2019). In Geography, there is a well-documented need to recruit and retain more black PhD students (Desai, 2017), especially as the discipline’s push towards diversity, including the development of the field of Black British Geographies (Noxolo 2020), becomes more urgent. This roundtable will center the lived experiences and reflections shared by these students, postdoc, and supervisors, along with their recommendations on good practice to support Black students in Geography.
Please join us for a lively discussion about how black PhD students can be better supervised, and ultimately how we can produce a more diverse discipline. If you have any queries about this event, please contact Dr Pat Noxolo (p.e.p.noxolo@bham.ac.uk).
Race, Culture and Equality Working Group 