Spring 2020 update

Group update

The spring of 2020 was an era-defining time for the ACRC. Still in our infancy after having formed in late 2019 in response to the Leading Routes Broken Pipeline report, many of our members had never met face to face. Some of us had arranged ad-hoc meetings at Black In Academia events, for example, but we had not quite enough members or momentum to organise a big gathering. Spearheaded through the work of Deshaine Murray, we mainly communicated by WhatsApp in the early months, sharing interesting news and getting to know each other.

Momentum and need for community became pressing after COVID19 lockdown started in the UK in March 2020. In our own ways, we began to adjust to becoming researchers working from home, away from our offices and labs, and what this meant for our research plans. A suggestion by Dr Samantha Rennalls to meet by Zoom quickly became a weekly staple for our group. During Spring we met on Zoom once a week without fail, talking about everything from lockdown concerns, to PhD upgrades and our experiences as Black people in academia. This protected time to meet each other properly, with room to vent and laugh and (virtually) break bread was invaluable. During this time, we also discussed our aims as a group and the initiatives we’d like to create in future. We also had the opportunity to welcome senior Black academics to join our discussions and share their experiences.

The life-line this community provided for so many of us was underscored by the change in dynamic and group response to the murder of George Flloyd in May 2020. As a collective of Black PhD researchers in the UK, we felt this acutely, and mourned alongside our global Black diasporan community. There was nuance to this response by individuals - Black people are not a monolith, as aren’t Black academics. Some ACRC members felt fear for their loved ones living in the US and spent a lot of time in talks with family. Some were re-traumatised based on prior UK-based police brutality incidents. Some of us were numb to the news. Some of us sought refuge from social media and the violence presented to us there, a medium which we had in fact hoped would bring connectivity during COVID19 lockdown. Many of us grappled with the need to stay informed on events in the US and the need to not deepen our own wounds. 

Throughout this all, our group dynamic evolved. We were more honest with each other about how our mental health was doing. Our interactions grew from breaking bread and laughing to also crying. In this way, we were able to display our full range of humanity, which, after all, was one of the main aims of our group in the first instance - to foster community. During this tumultuous and era-defining time for the ACRC, our individual members produced impressive and thought-provoking works, both within and outside of our academic studies. We recognise individual achievements here both as an archival act and as a form of celebration.

Member updates

• Renée was interviewed by Al Jazeera on #WindrushDay2020, where she spoke about the Windrush Scandal and it's context within institutional racism and the current impact of the Black Lives Matter movement). Renee also took over Prof Kate William’s twitter account and shared her research

• Dr Samantha Rennals wrote a personal piece for British Vogue about her experiences of racial trauma in the current state of the world and some steps that Black people could take on an ongoing journey to healing from racial trauma.

• Jahnine Davis wrote an article for Black Ballad reflecting on the challenges of researching child sexual abuse in her community as a Black woman.

• Deshaine Murray co-led the creation of an ImperialAsOne event titled ‘The Windrush Legacy: Power of Education’ on Windrush Day 2020, showcasing the power of education and the experiences of Black ECRs and senior researchers in academia. This included Louisa Brotherson and Simone Webb on the postgraduate panel.

• Prof Otele came to speak with us.

• Zakiya orated an Anansi story-telling session (complete with Jamaican folk songs) with St Pauls Carnival.

• Siggs conducts research into rare childhood tumours and was featured in a Cancer Research UK video, which showcases how scientists have adapted their work during COVID19 lockdown.
  
  

• Members of ACRC UK including Renee Landell, Ayesha Aaliyah, Nkasi Stoll, Jahnine Davis and Sascha featured on the D-Whyte radio show, which aimed to inspire the next generation of researchers in the fields of Arts & Humanities/Social Sciences.

• Ayesha Aaliyah launched the online platform for KrioPatois, an empowerment lifestyle brand focused on the upliftment of the African and Caribbean diaspora.

• Louisa Brotherson was featured in a EuroGeosciences blog which spotlighted researchers that are Black in Geoscience.