Recap: Past events at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre

Over the past few years, the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre has hosted events centreing around the subjects of race, gender and inclusivity. Our speakers come from a wide range of backgrounds and have brought valuable insight from their unique perspectives, not shying away from tough subjects, including slavery, injustice and inequality. For an idea of what to expect from future events at the SLRC, take a look at this list of previous events.

2024

• Fashion in Leicester: Gaps to Fill and Bridges to Cross, with The Highfields Centre, University of Leicester, TUC Midlands, FAB, Garment and Textile Workers Trust (GTWT), Unite the Union, GMB Union: What is wrong with garment manufacturing in Leicester? As part of DMU’s Cultural Exchanges 2024 festival we hosted a bilingual panel of experts (English and Hindi) unpacking the issues in Leicester’s garment industry including Francesco Sani (Stephen Lawrence Research Centre), Shaista Jakhura (GTWT), Dr. Claire Lerpiniere (DMU), Professor Nikolaus Hammer (University of Leicester), and Tarek Islam (Highfields Centre).
  Guest speakers: Shaista Jakhura, Dr. Claire Lerpiniere, Professor Nikolaus Hammer, and Tarek Islam
  
  

• Film Screening: Under Your Nose and Q&A with Veronica McKenzie: 40 years ago, a group of activists came together with one aim: to open a centre for the black LGBTQ+ community. Against the backdrop of 1980s politics, the rise of Thatcherism, and the AIDS epidemic, they established one in Pekham, London, the first black queer centre in Europe. Drawing on archival materials, Veronica McKenzie’s Under Your Nose is a feature documentary reconstructing their story. We partnered with Phoenix Arts Leicester to bring Under Your Nose to Leicester for a screening followed by a Q&A with the director. Veronica engaged in a participated and nuanced exchange with attendees.
  Guest speaker: Veronica McKenzie

2023

• Lunchtime Book Launch From Sylhet to Spitalfields: Bengali Squatters in 1970s East London with Dr Shabna Begum: Dr Begum introduces her new groundbreaking publication on the history of the Bengali squatters movement in London and of the Bengali Housing Action Group (BHAC)

• Black History Month 23: Black Care from Literati Arts: For Black History Months 2023, we partnered with Literati Arts to host a series of events bringing attention to the experiences of Caribbean and African people in care. 

• Black Care 23 – What Comes Next?: We joined poet and educator Ty'rone Haughton in conversation to discuss the state of the fostering system in the UK, its impact on young people of colour, and ways to bring about improvements.

• Black Care 23 – The Proverbial Wisdom of Fostering Culture: Keynote with Dr Arlene Weekes. In this keynote lecture, Dr. Arlene Weekes explored ways to shift the perception of caring and fostering of children from Caribbean and African descendants towards a holistic understanding of their needs and challenges. 
• Black Care 23 - Black Care Poetry Club with Headliner Lemn Sissay: A night of poetry and storytelling from Black voices sharing experiences of care, isolation, love, discrimination, violence, joy, commitment, and hope. 

• Teaching to Transform: Charting the Journey symposium: This event acknowledged and celebrated the educators who have participated in the centre’s racial literacy training, also discussing the way forward for inclusive education in the UK’s educational system.

• South East London as a place and space in the making of race, racism and anti-racism in the UK: This event, a collaboration between The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre (SLRC) and the University of Greenwich, discussed the effect and reverberations of living in and through the spectre of Stephen’s legacy and its impact on the everyday places and spaces of South East London.
  Guest Speakers: Dr Myrtle Emmanuel, Suresh Grover, Professor Lez Henry and Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng 

• Queering the lens of Black activism in the UK: In the second of our SLRC in conversation series we invite a discussion that reflects on the (in)visibility of LGBTQ+ Black people in the stories we tell ourselves about Black liberation, solidarity and anti-racist struggle in Britain. 
  Guest Speakers: Chloe Cousins, Sue Lemos and Femi Otitoju

• Race and Racism in the 1990s: It is impossible to talk about race and racism in the 1990s without referring to the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence and the forms of institutional and state racisms that were exposed as a subsequence of Stephen’s life and death. This panel discussed the ways in which Stephen’s case has shaped the public discourse on race and racism in the 1990s marking a watershed shift in anti-racist campaigning and political activism.
  Guest speakers: Professor Jason Arday, Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor Gus John and Professor Gail Lewis

2022

•  The Global Politics of Black Lives - An International Film Festival: The Global Politics of Black Lives Film Festival aims to generate public conversations about the ways these films depict and respond differently to how Black lives continue to be shaped by the politics of global capitalism, labour, the degradation of the natural and social environments, the global politics of blackness, race and racism, representations of sexuality, and the cumulative effects of power, control and exploitation. 
• Where’s the Love in Lovers Rock? - Examining the role of women and gender within Lovers’ Rock reggae music: Dr Lisa Amanda Palmer will present her latest research on the complexities that exist within the Lovers’ Rock reggae scene in relation to the cultural politics of gendering and love.

• Decoding and Decolonising Mixed-Race: An International Conversation on Mixedness and It's Intersections: Following the release of her new book Making Mixed Race: A Study of Time, Place and Identity, SLRC Legacy in Action Research Fellow, Dr Karis Campion, invites an international conversation with Professor Shirley Anne Tate (University of Alberta), Dr Shantel G. Buggs (Florida State University), and Dr Alyssa M. Newman (John Hopkins University) on the intersections of mixed-race identities. 

• Anti-Racist Scholar-Activism Workshop: Informed by empirical data, this interactive workshop explored some of the key principles of anti-racist scholar-activism and collectively explore the pockets of possibility that we can exploit in service to communities of resistance, whilst also considering the challenges and contradictions that arise from working in the neoliberal-imperial-institutionally-racist universities.

• National Stephen Lawrence Day, April 22: For this year's Stephen Lawrence Day (2022), the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre partnered with the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation and Libraries Connected to enlist the support of libraries across the country and develop bespoke educational activities that promote culture, literacy and learning using the story of Stephen Lawrence.

• Creating Joy Film Festival: The Creating Joy project presents its exciting film festival and roundtable. will introduce newly commissioned films by six visual artists. They will each showcase their work in this much-anticipated online event. Hosted by Dr Lisa Palmer and Agostinho Pinnock, the film festival was followed with a roundtable discussion. 

• Black mixed-race Birmingham in Perspective: Book Launch: Following the release of her new book Making Mixed Race: A Study of Time, Place and Identity, SLRC Legacy in Action Research Fellow, Dr Karis Campion, was joined by SLRC Deputy Director Dr Lisa Palmer to discuss the findings of the book that examines Black mixed-race identities through time in the UK's second largest city, Birmingham.

2021

• Scholar Activism in the UK – Questions of ethics and practice: What does it mean to be a scholar activist? Leading Routes and the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre discussed recent interventions both within and outside of UK higher education that are committed to tackling intersecting forms of racialised injustice within and beyond the westernised university. 

• An evening with Baroness Doreen Lawrence: Bringing Legacy to Leicester: Ahead of Stephen Lawrence Day, 22 April, Baroness Lawrence was joined by Imran Khan QC,  educators, students and community leaders for a discussion on how Stephen’s legacy is inspiring a change for good across the nation. You can watch the event at The Exchange.

• Unsettled Multiculturalisms: With Professor Barnor Hesse of Northwestern University, Chicago. This four-part webinar series discusses concurrent racial catastrophes that have unfolded during 2020 through Professor Hesse’s idea on race and ‘transruptions’ and addresses questions relating to the social and global problem of contemporary racism.

2020

• Black in Academia: Leading Routes and the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre present Black in Academia. This event will ignite conversations around the representation and experiences of Black students and staff in UK higher education. With a focus on addressing disparities in higher education, specifically in relation to the underrepresentation of Black students pursuing PhD research and postgraduate studies, Leading Routes will share tips and advice on how to apply for research funding while panellists will share their own personal journeys through higher education. 

• Let’s Talk About IT! Race, Gender and Media Representation: Centred against a backdrop of racial tensions, systematic discriminations and global activism, The Exchange hosted a panel-led discussion to explore issues of race and black masculinity within the media. 

• Karl Lokko Talk: Dr. Yusef Bakkali, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre’s Legacy In Action Fellow, will introduce Karl Lokko, a former gang leader turned activist, poet, influencer, public speaker and adventurer. 

• Distinguished Lecture Series: 'I am a man, your brother': Black Resistance and the Secret History of British Antislavery: A talk by Dr Priyamvarda Gopal.

• Distinguished Lecture Series: The Black Attaintment Gap: Inequality, Exclusion and Injustice: A talk by Shirley Anne Tate, Professor of Sociology, University of Alberta.

• Distinguished Lecture Series: Why Black History Matters Now: A conversation with Hakim Adi, the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain.

2019

• Radical Pedagogies: Macpherson 20 years on:Radical Pedagogies is the Humanities Teaching Network in Higher Education which was established as “a forum for lecturers, educators, administrators and students to share resources and discuss innovative pedagogy and praxis.”