When I first started in my role, I was aware of my positioning and visibility of my intersecting personal and professional identities, inequalities and experiences that can surface in a role where tackling race equality is a visible part of your job title. Despite there being a perceived weight and labour to race equality work, I have had to the opportunity to find, facilitate, and celebrate the joys of coming together with a courageous community of people involved in racial justice. This is reflected in the people, teams and universities I have connected with, the self-assessment teams I have been a critical friend to, the senior leaders who I have engaged in difficult conversations about race, all to create and nudge systemic change in a sector that is rife with racial harassment and disparities.
When I joined in February 2021, I was tasked with leading and implementing the recommendations from two independent reviews, the first led by Professor Rollock and the second from Freya Douglas Oloyede consultants. There were over 60 recommendations to implement and I had the honour of working alongside my Project Manager, Precious Ogbonna, who formidably has kept us on track to be able to deliver an enhanced Race Equality Charter (REC) that is streamlined, engaging, supportive and impactful. The team has worked extensively on improving the entire assessment process, led by Diana Piscitelli (Charter’s Assessment Manager), to be more transparent, user friendly and robust in its implementation. I have focused our enhancements on strengthening the infrastructure of the REC which is what will enable us to sustainably grow and deliver at scale the changes the higher education sector is asking for and needs. In addition, I designed a strategic approach to engaging Research Institutes in a design process, facilitated and led by Thahmina Begum (Lead Executive, Race Equality), and I have had the opportunity to see the passion and engagement of Research Institutes who want to embark and accelerate their journey to becoming anti-racist.
A core part of my leadership and vision for the Race Equality Charter was for it be seen as impact led, nationally excellent and globally relevant. I wanted my team and our members to be bold and aspirational as they embark on a critically reflective journey to actualising their mission to becoming anti-racist institution. I am proud that we have captured our pathway to impact in the development of the REC strategy, which was designed with and for the sector to ensure that everyone involved and engaged in the REC understands its purpose, value, and outcomes. This has shifted our narrative from being awards-led to being outcomes-led, which is direction aligned with our members and institutions across the UK and internationally.
I am proud of leading the recruitment of our REC Governance Committee, a group who represent different facets of the higher education sector at different career levels, specialities and backgrounds who have held me, my team and Advance HE (Higher Education) to account on delivering on our commitment to develop the REC and implement the recommendations. They have been influential in helping us to navigate criticisms and the positioning of REC in the sector ensuring that the REC is now in a place it can stand strong and proud. I had the privilege of being nominated by the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee to provide evidence on the issues of racism in higher education, alongside Professor Nicola Rollock, Larissa Kennedy, and Professor David Richardson, to demonstrate the value and essence of the REC. These events have been critical to enabling the REC to contribute and influence the discussion on racism in higher education on a national scale.
I have spent a great deal of time demystifying the REC to the higher education sector, striving to provide clarity in the framework, its purpose and intended impact in the sector. Speaking at various conferences, events and meetings has been critical to enabling the higher education community to enable them to feel they can participate in the REC in diverse ways. We made observing panels more accessible to members, to help them understand the detailed and critical discussions that take place to support applications and institutions to be successful on their journey. We delivered a range of events supported by us, but led by our members, chairs, and panellists to share what is working and not working for institutions on our race equality journey.
I am proud to say that I, along with the team, have developed a national race equality framework that has intersectionality woven through its entire fabric, that has a robust strategic position and alignment to the higher education sector’s own goals to becoming anti-racist, is influencing conversations about race at a national and global scale, and is driven by a passionate and joyful team who keep the momentum and energy for our members that work tirelessly in institutions to tackle racism.
I look forward to continuing to be an advocate for the REC, and I look forward to the incoming postholder to drive the REC strategy, build up a rigorous Race Equality Charter evidence, evaluation and learning framework, engaging in difficult and critical conversations about race in higher education and continuing to find ways to support us and the sector in celebrating and finding joy in what can often be burdensome work for many.
