In this episode Dr Rachel Keighley (she/they) is joined by Jonathan Blyth (he/him) to talk about anti-racism and social justice work beyond academia.

Find Jon on: linkedin

Director Jabulani CIC & Plymouth Social Enterprise Network

Committee Mixed Families Together
Strategy advisor Ubuntu Education and Mentoring Services

Steering group Hidden Figures of Plymouth

Co-founder Fotonow CIC & Camper Obscura

Jonathan Blyth has been exploring social enterprise, visual culture, creative learning and socially engaged practice since co-establishing Fotonow CIC as a Creative Director in early 2009.

Fotonow is based in Plymouth’s Royal William Yard. The Camper Obscura project has been at the Photographers Gallery London, Format International Photography Festival Derby, Diffusion Festival Cardiff and the Brighton Photo Biennial amongst many other national venues and events.

A decade’s further exploration of creative learning and social engagement has further led to collaborations that established St Saviours CIC (2015) in Plymouth and Arts Lab CIC (2018).

He’s an experienced professional with a proven ability for curriculum design, multidisciplinary practice, collaboration, research, network building, managing relationships, community engagement, arts and wellbeing, and partnership development in the sectors of social enterprise, higher education, arts and cultural heritage.

Jonathan also extensive experience of co-designing learning in youth centres, primary and secondary schools, galleries, museums, festivals and many other non institutional learning spaces for children and young people.

His advisory roles include the board for Sound Communities CIC, Field Notes CIC, Vital Sparks, Encounters 'Chrysalis' amongst others. I'm a member of the Steering Committee for WonderZoo CIC’s ‘Hidden Figures of Plymouth’ project.

He’s been a Lecturer for BA Photography and BA Commercial Photography, a Research Group Convenor for Art + Social Action, and Subject Tutor for MA Photography and MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice programme at Arts University Plymouth (2009-24). H represented AUP at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Glasgow.

Currently Jonathan is an Associate Lecturer at the University of the West of England in Bristol, Director at Plymouth Social Enterprise Network (2020) and Jabulani CIC (2023), a committee member for Mixed Families Together (2023), actively pursuing several anti-racism projects through collaborations with Diversity Business Incubator CIC.

Mark Walters is a Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology and Deputy Head of Sussex Law School. His research interests are focused primarily on hate crime studies, as well as criminal law and criminal justice reform with a special emphasis on restorative justice practice and theory.

His book, Criminalising Hate: Law as Social Justice Liberalism won the British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network Sophie and Sylvia Lancaster Book Prize 2023. It sets out a new theory for understanding the harms of hate crime and provides the first global analysis of hate crime laws.

Dr Gopala Sasie Rekha holds the position of Criminology Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Crime and Justice at the University of Winchester. She also serves as an External Examiner for the University of Northeastern London and contributes as an editor and reviewer for several Indonesian journals. As a member of the British Society of Criminology and its Learning and Teaching Network, as well as the Standing Group on Organised Crime, Sasie's involvement in the field is extensive.

With 15 years of academic experience across Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, and England, Sasie has cultivated a deep interest in organised crime, particularly human trafficking. Her work focuses on the reintegration of victims and their families, as well as human rights and gender issues in Southeast Asia. Her latest research explores forensic science in human trafficking cases.

Currently, Sasie is involved in revising her newly developed course module titled "Modern Slavery" at the University of Winchester. In addition, she is actively working on several publishing projects. These include a book series detailing the lives and post-trafficking experiences of sex trafficking victims and their families, a book chapter on forensic science in Indonesian human trafficking cases, and another chapter examining the human trafficking crisis in Myanmar. The latter focuses on the impact on indigenous communities, encompassing historical, cultural, economic, political, social, and environmental perspectives. This work underscores the need for a comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach to tackle human trafficking issues.

Dr Neville Lawrence OBE is an advocate for the marginalised and voiceless communities who struggle to access and be heard by law enforcement agencies. 

Since the murder of his son Stephen he has been keen to go into schools and places where he can meet and speak with young people to let them know that there has to be a better way of treating people with different identities and backgrounds and that there is no need to be Racist and violent towards people because they are different. 

Dr Lawrence has received many awards for his work to combat Hate Crime and support young people. He has given more than 250 talks to schools, universities and prisons. 

He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates in law, education and civil law in recognition of his work to receive justice for his son Stephen Lawrence. 

For more information about the British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network visit:

Today’s guest is Karen Becher – Head of Onsite Education, National Holocaust Centre and Museum 

Karen joined the National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) in 2014, where she is the Head of Onsite Education and works in Holocaust education, teaching to primary and secondary students, university students and adult groups. She has played a substantial role in developing NHCM’s ‘Breaking the Cycle’ programme. She completed her BA in Western European Studies and German at Wells College (New York, USA), and did teacher training and practical experience in New York State. She also completed studies in German, international relations and economics at the University of Bonn, Germany, and current completing modules toward an MA in Holocaust Education. She began a career in journalism at the Wall St Journal Europe, where she worked for 6 years in the Bonn bureau. Fluent in German and currently studying Italian at intermediate level, Karen engaged in a career of professional translation and editing for 15+ years, translating articles, books/book chapters and journal papers. Clients have included think-tanks such as the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Austrian Trade Commission, online political journals, and book authors. In addition to living in the United States and United Kingdom, Karen has lived many years in Germany and Austria, where she worked at an international school, and taught German and worked in the high school administration. Passionate about Holocaust education and its relevance to society today, she is dedicated to this field.

Today’s guests are Alison Vincent and Mike Ainsworth from the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

Alison Vincent is the Chief Executive of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. Alison was brought into the Foundation by Sylvia, Founder of the Charity and Sophie’s Mum. Alison’s background is in education and the arts, and her specialism is marketing and communications. She was a committed supporter of the Foundation from first hearing Black Roses, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage’s poetic sequence and elegy to Sophie, which jammed Radio 4 switchboards when it was first broadcast in 2010.

Mike Ainsworth currently chairs the National Police Chiefs Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Independent Advisory Groups on Hate Crime. Mike is a Trustee and Director of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. After a varied career in the Prison Service from officer in HMP Lincoln to running the lifer unit in Wormwood Scrubs and Deputy Governor in HMP Holloway, Mike worked in Kosovo during and immediately after the conflict organising the evacuation of refugees and coordinating the work of forensic teams investigating war crimes. On returning to the UK, Mike worked in a variety of voluntary sector organisations including Director of Offender Services in The Princes Trust and Director of London Services for Stop Hate UK. Mike is chair of the management board of Arc Theatre.

Welcome to the BSC Hate Crime Network Podcast where we aim to understand and respond to hate against marginalised communities

Your hosts today are Dr Rachel Keighley, the deputy chair of the network and Dr Irene Zempi, the Chair of the network.

Today’s guests is Dr Monish Bhatia who won the 2021 Article Prize Award for their paper: 'The Permission to be Cruel: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Harms Against People Seeking Asylum'.

Bhatia, M. (2020) The Permission to be Cruel: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Harms Against People Seeking Asylum. Crit Crim 28, 277–292 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-020-09515-3

Welcome to the BSC Hate Crime Network Podcast where we aim to understand and respond to hate against marginalised communities

Your hosts today are Dr Rachel Keighley, the deputy chair of the network and Dr Irene Zempi, the Chair of the network.

Today’s guests are Dr Michael Rowe and Dr Ruth Lewis who won the 2019 Article Prize Award for their paper ‘Misogyny Online: Extending the boundaries of Hate Crime'

Rowe, Michael, Lewis, Ruth and Wiper, Clare (2018) Misogyny Online: Extending the boundaries of Hate Crime. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 2 (3). pp. 519-536. ISSN 2398-6808

Welcome to the BSC Hate Crime Network Podcast where we aim to understand and respond to hate against marginalised communities

Your hosts today are Dr Rachel Keighley, the deputy chair of the network and Dr Irene Zempi, the Chair of the network.

Today’s guests are Professor Stephen MacDonald, Professor Catherine Donovan and Dr John Clayton who won the 2022 Article Prize Award for their paper ‘I may be left with no choice but to end my torment’: disability and intersectionalities of hate crime. 

Stephen J. Macdonald, Catherine Donovan & John Clayton (2021): ‘I may be left with no choice but to end my torment’: disability and intersectionalities of hate crime, Disability & Society, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2021.1928480

Welcome to the British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network Podcast.

Through this podcast series we respond to hate and understand hate against marginalised communities.

The BSC Hate Crime Network podcast series are intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas and work amongst hate crime academics, stakeholders, policy makers, criminal justice practitioners and the wider general public.

More information about today's guest:

Dr Jack López is currently Associate Dean Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Bradford and as an academic is based in the Department of Peace Studies. Jack is a medical and social anthropologist specialising in barriers to healthcare, sexual health and care ethics. He also works with the design and ethics of collaborative ethnography. His broader interests are intimate life, gender and intersectional life-course in societies affected by violence and/or conflict.  Originally from Manchester, he has lived and conducted research in Chiapas, Mexico for over 15yrs on matters including HIV, sex work, reproductive health and pre-colonial gender identities. Jack is currently working on research on trans healthcare during covid and collaborates with Trans Actual UK on a specific investigation on trans masculine lower surgeries and patient safety.

Outside of academia he is an EDI and cultural sensitivity consultant providing LGBTQ+ awareness training to organisations and local councils. He sits on the Health Strategy Working group for Trans Actual, is in the process of founding a European network for academics working on EDI matters. He collects tattoos, is a mediocre yet enthusiastic boxer and lone parent to four children, he also has ADHD. In his spare time he tries to lie down and not move, usually unsuccessfully.