This website is dedicated to a London School of Economics and Political Science funded project entitled ‘Race in the Academy’. This project was completed in 2016 and is an exploration into experiences of race at the LSE and barriers to creating a more inclusive organisation. Particularly we examine why the LSE does not attract or retain black and ethnic minority academic staff, as well as the experiences of black and ethnic minority PhD students. According to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office at LSE, the number of Black professors at LSE has remained at only 1 between 2011 - 2016. In contrast, the number of White professors has risen from 157 in 2012 to 214 in 2016.

The project also involved the practice of photovoice with the support of Shosei Kessi. Photovoice visually documented the experiences of black and ethnic minority PhD students at the LSE.

People

Caroline Howarth is visiting fellow in DPBS at LSE. Growing up in the cultural diverse contexts of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia and witnessing the psychological impact of racism through teaching in apartheid South Africa, has shaped her commitment to social justice through social research. In her research she examines the processes of institutionalisation and contestation that work to uphold and subvert racism in school and community contexts, as well as exploring everyday knowledge about multiculturalism, nationalism and processes of inclusion, exclusion and resistance.

Akile Ahmet is currently the head of Inclusive Education at LSE. In 2016 she was a research officer at the LSE in the DPBS. Her research focused on race, ethnicity, age and education. Her doctoral research focused on mixed race masculinities and experiences of ‘home’. Since completing her PhD Akile has worked on a number of research projects which have focused on race and ethnicity. In 2009 she worked alongside a team of researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London examining ‘Diversity and Progression of Social Work Students’, she then went onto help develop a series of online ‘toolkits‘ from this project. In 2011 she joined the College of Health and Life Sciences working alongside Christina Victor on a project entitled ‘Care and Caring Amongst Ethnic Minority Older People’. She has worked on a knowledge transfer program from this project and increasing impact and has completed an ESRC seminar series on ‘Ageing and Ethnicity’. She has published a report alongside Christina and Omar Khan (The Runnymede Trust) for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on ‘caring and earning’.

For further information about the project or if you have any questions or queries, please contact Dr Caroline Howarth at c.s.howarth@lse.ac.uk.