Professor Keisha S. Ray joins us for a cross-continental conversation on representation and research culture, in which we explore the experiences of racially minoritised researchers working on both sides of the Atlantic. Recorded in July 2023. In this transatlantic episode, Dr Harleen Kaur Johal — co-founder of Black and Brown in Bioethics — sits down with Professor Keisha S. Ray for a candid conversation about the realities of working in bioethics in both the UK and the US. Keisha is an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas.

Together, they explore the nuances of research culture on either side of the Atlantic, unpacking the role of intersectionality, institutional power, and what it means to feel seen in academic spaces. From the transformative impact of working in departments where people look like you, to honest critiques about where bioethics is falling short, this conversation

provides deep insights, personal reflections, and a generous exchange of strategies for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in bioethics.

Professor Keisha S. Ray joins us for a cross-continental conversation on representation and research culture, in which we explore the experiences of racially minoritised researchers working on both sides of the Atlantic. Recorded in July 2023. In this transatlantic episode, Dr Harleen Kaur Johal — co-founder of Black and Brown in Bioethics — sits down with Professor Keisha S. Ray for a candid conversation about the realities of working in bioethics in both the UK and the US. Keisha is an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas.

Together, they explore the nuances of research culture on either side of the Atlantic, unpacking the role of intersectionality, institutional power, and what it means to feel seen in academic spaces. From the transformative impact of working in departments where people look like you, to honest critiques about where bioethics is falling short, this conversation

provides deep insights, personal reflections, and a generous exchange of strategies for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in bioethics.

Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad join Kumeri Bandara to explore the opportunities, challenges, and complexities of postgraduate-led activism and advocacy in academia. Recorded on 12 June 2023. This episode is a little different from our usual format—it's a recording of a live panel discussion, shared here with the speakers' prior consent. The event took place at the 2023 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference, held in June at the University of Edinburgh. In this panel discussion hosted by Kumeri Bandara, we hear from senior academics Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad, as they explore what it means to engage in activism and advocacy as postgraduate scholars navigating academic institutions. Drawing on their personal experiences, the panellists reflect on how their encounters with structural inequities and microaggressions shaped their commitment to academic citizenship and social justice work. They offer practical insights on incorporating advocacy into research practices, mentoring, and everyday academic life—emphasising the importance of community, strategic action, and ethical responsibility. With honest reflections on navigating institutional politics, short-term contracts, and the myth of meritocracy, the panellists highlight the double burden often placed on marginalised researchers and the quiet forms of resistance that make meaningful change possible. This conversation is both candid and empowering, offering guidance for early-career scholars seeking to challenge inequity while sustaining themselves and each other in the process.

Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad join Kumeri Bandara to explore the opportunities, challenges, and complexities of postgraduate-led activism and advocacy in academia. Recorded on 12 June 2023. This episode is a little different from our usual format—it's a recording of a live panel discussion, shared here with the speakers' prior consent. The event took place at the 2023 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference, held in June at the University of Edinburgh. In this panel discussion hosted by Kumeri Bandara, we hear from senior academics Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad, as they explore what it means to engage in activism and advocacy as postgraduate scholars navigating academic institutions. Drawing on their personal experiences, the panellists reflect on how their encounters with structural inequities and microaggressions shaped their commitment to academic citizenship and social justice work. They offer practical insights on incorporating advocacy into research practices, mentoring, and everyday academic life—emphasising the importance of community, strategic action, and ethical responsibility. With honest reflections on navigating institutional politics, short-term contracts, and the myth of meritocracy, the panellists highlight the double burden often placed on marginalised researchers and the quiet forms of resistance that make meaningful change possible. This conversation is both candid and empowering, offering guidance for early-career scholars seeking to challenge inequity while sustaining themselves and each other in the process.

Dr Eleanor Fleming reflects on untold histories, antiracism in dentistry, and the role of legacy in shaping identity, practice, and space within academia and beyond the walls of the university to include the communities we serve. Recorded 30 Aug 2024. In this episode of the Power and Privilege series, we are joined by Clinical Associate Professor Eleanor Fleming who is also the Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in West Baltimore. Eleanor is a Public Health Dentist whose research and practice focus on how dentistry—as a clinical, academic, and research field—can embody antiracist principles. Together, we explore the deeply interconnected themes of legacy, narrative, and identity, and consider how untold or suppressed histories shape present-day realities in academia and healthcare. This episode is a rich reflection on Eleanor’s journey in dentistry, the importance of designing inclusive public spaces that hold and retell complex histories, and what it means to consciously build a legacy. We also touch on public history exhibitions, the role of storytelling in academic spaces, and how reimagining professional practice can contribute to justice. Tune in for a thoughtful and expansive conversation that bridges personal experience, structural critique, and visionary thinking. Referenced in the podcast:

● Dr Eleanor Fleming visited Bristol as a Next Generation Visiting Researcher from the 9th January to the 19th February 2024.

● The first African-American male dentist was Robert Tanner Freeman

● The first African-American female dentist was Ida Gray Nelson Rollins

● While it's difficult to pinpoint the absolute first, one of the first Black professionally registered dentists in the UK was Edward "Eddie" Tull-Warnock. At the time of recording there was no record of the first Black female Dentist in the UK.

● Mayor of London, in 2023 announced plans for a landmark memorial in the capital for the victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

● In West African culture, storytellers, known as Griots (or Jeliw), were highly respected individuals who are born into their role, acting as oral historians, praise singers, and keepers of traditions, often advising royal figures.

● Black birth workers never went away. More recently, they have trained as doulas. Doulas are birth workers who don't give medical advice. Instead, they offer mental, physical, and emotional support to mothers. Orgs such as National Black Doulas Association and Black Mothers Matter provide doula support.

Dr Eleanor Fleming reflects on untold histories, antiracism in dentistry, and the role of legacy in shaping identity, practice, and space within academia and beyond the walls of the university to include the communities we serve. Recorded 30 Aug 2024. In this episode of the Power and Privilege series, we are joined by Clinical Associate Professor Eleanor Fleming who is also the Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in West Baltimore. Eleanor is a Public Health Dentist whose research and practice focus on how dentistry—as a clinical, academic, and research field—can embody antiracist principles. Together, we explore the deeply interconnected themes of legacy, narrative, and identity, and consider how untold or suppressed histories shape present-day realities in academia and healthcare. This episode is a rich reflection on Eleanor’s journey in dentistry, the importance of designing inclusive public spaces that hold and retell complex histories, and what it means to consciously build a legacy. We also touch on public history exhibitions, the role of storytelling in academic spaces, and how reimagining professional practice can contribute to justice. Tune in for a thoughtful and expansive conversation that bridges personal experience, structural critique, and visionary thinking. Referenced in the podcast:

● Dr Eleanor Fleming visited Bristol as a Next Generation Visiting Researcher from the 9th January to the 19th February 2024.

● The first African-American male dentist was Robert Tanner Freeman

● The first African-American female dentist was Ida Gray Nelson Rollins

● While it's difficult to pinpoint the absolute first, one of the first Black professionally registered dentists in the UK was Edward "Eddie" Tull-Warnock. At the time of recording there was no record of the first Black female Dentist in the UK.

● Mayor of London, in 2023 announced plans for a landmark memorial in the capital for the victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

● In West African culture, storytellers, known as Griots (or Jeliw), were highly respected individuals who are born into their role, acting as oral historians, praise singers, and keepers of traditions, often advising royal figures.

● Black birth workers never went away. More recently, they have trained as doulas. Doulas are birth workers who don't give medical advice. Instead, they offer mental, physical, and emotional support to mothers. Orgs such as National Black Doulas Association and Black Mothers Matter provide doula support.

Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain join Matimba Swana to explore elitism in research, the barriers to public engagement and why making research more inclusive and accessible is essential for meaningful community participation. Recorded 11 Oct 2024. In this episode, we speak with Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain about the world of public and community engagement with research, asking who truly gets to participate, and what structural barriers stand in the way. Pete is a Senior Research Associate and sociologist at the University of Bristol whose work focuses on sociotechnical systems and the societal impacts of AI, and Alan is a Principal Research Fellow at the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, whose research explores the creative and ethical applications of AI through Human-Computer Interaction. Together, we unpack the class dynamics embedded in academic culture and research engagement, from the dominance of middle and upper-class voices in academia, to the socioeconomic exclusion of working-class and marginalised communities from meaningful participation. We discuss what it means to truly listen to “unheard voices,” and why moving research from the ivory tower into the community is fundamental for equity and impact. This conversation centres the need for more inclusive, accessible, and democratic forms of research, and offers reflections on how we can begin to close the gap between academia and the public it seeks to serve. Referenced in the podcast:

● A project in 2015 “factors affecting public engagement by researchers ” suggested that public engagement is more embedded in the arts, humanities, and social sciences than in STEM.

● UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub assembles a team from the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham and King’s College London.

● Professor Kate Reed’s project Remembering Baby aimed to open up a conversation about the subject baby-loss.

● Wellcome changed their public engagement funding scheme for applications to support their new strategy.

● Andrew Crabtree was the Principle Investigator for Bridging the Rural Divide UKRI project

● The UKRI project Experiencing the Future Mundane was created in conjunction with the BBC R&D

● The NASSS (non-adoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, sustainability) framework was developed to study technologies in real time in the real world. Trishia Greenhalgh’s paper - https://www.jmir.org/2017/11/e367/

● Dr. Jessica Morley is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Digital Ethics Center, Yale University. These are links to her work - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hp-k6QwAAAAJ&hl=en

● University of Bristol public engagement team work to improve the impact of research by collaborating with communities in Bristol and beyond.

● Each year, Festival of Tomorrow shares the latest discoveries, research and developments from organisations and experts from Swindon, the UK and internationally.

● FUTURES is a free festival across venues in Bath, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Exeter and Plymouth. Past events include. Futures Up Late at the SS Great Britain.

Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain join Matimba Swana to explore elitism in research, the barriers to public engagement and why making research more inclusive and accessible is essential for meaningful community participation. Recorded 11 Oct 2024. In this episode, we speak with Dr Peter Winter and Dr Alan Chamberlain about the world of public and community engagement with research, asking who truly gets to participate, and what structural barriers stand in the way. Pete is a Senior Research Associate and sociologist at the University of Bristol whose work focuses on sociotechnical systems and the societal impacts of AI, and Alan is a Principal Research Fellow at the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, whose research explores the creative and ethical applications of AI through Human-Computer Interaction. Together, we unpack the class dynamics embedded in academic culture and research engagement, from the dominance of middle and upper-class voices in academia, to the socioeconomic exclusion of working-class and marginalised communities from meaningful participation. We discuss what it means to truly listen to “unheard voices,” and why moving research from the ivory tower into the community is fundamental for equity and impact. This conversation centres the need for more inclusive, accessible, and democratic forms of research, and offers reflections on how we can begin to close the gap between academia and the public it seeks to serve. Referenced in the podcast:

● A project in 2015 “factors affecting public engagement by researchers ” suggested that public engagement is more embedded in the arts, humanities, and social sciences than in STEM.

● UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub assembles a team from the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham and King’s College London.

● Professor Kate Reed’s project Remembering Baby aimed to open up a conversation about the subject baby-loss.

● Wellcome changed their public engagement funding scheme for applications to support their new strategy.

● Andrew Crabtree was the Principle Investigator for Bridging the Rural Divide UKRI project

● The UKRI project Experiencing the Future Mundane was created in conjunction with the BBC R&D

● The NASSS (non-adoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, sustainability) framework was developed to study technologies in real time in the real world. Trishia Greenhalgh’s paper - https://www.jmir.org/2017/11/e367/

● Dr. Jessica Morley is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Digital Ethics Center, Yale University. These are links to her work - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hp-k6QwAAAAJ&hl=en

● University of Bristol public engagement team work to improve the impact of research by collaborating with communities in Bristol and beyond.

● Each year, Festival of Tomorrow shares the latest discoveries, research and developments from organisations and experts from Swindon, the UK and internationally.

● FUTURES is a free festival across venues in Bath, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Exeter and Plymouth. Past events include. Futures Up Late at the SS Great Britain.

Hend Rashed and Princess Banda join us to explore race, equity, and liberation in UK academia, sharing insights on dismantling institutional racism and reimagining what anti-racist education can truly look like. Recorded on 5 July 2023. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Hend Rashed and Princess Banda to explore what anti-racism looks like within UK higher education. Hend, a physician and trailblazer, founded a Race Equality Working Group at the University of Sheffield’s Medical School and co-authored a paper on tackling racial inequalities in medical education. Princess, a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, brings her expertise in medical anthropology, Black maternal health, and curriculum decolonisation to the conversation. Together, we unpack how anti-racism is defined, particularly comparing UK and US contexts, while exploring themes of equality, equity, and liberation. We discuss the different forms of racism: individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural, with Hend and Princess offering honest reflections from their experiences in Russell Group universities in the UK. We also discuss the impact of social media, the myth of meritocracy in academia, and what it means to create meaningful, long-lasting change. This is a nuanced, enriching, and timely conversation, one we hope inspires deeper thought and continued action within educational spaces. Referenced in the podcast:

• the National Museum of African American History and Culture outlines different definitions of racism.

• Equality, equity and liberation: tackling racial bias

• Affirmative action: US Supreme Court overturns race-based college admissions. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race as one of many factors that can be considered in a holistic admissions process. However, in the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decisions, the Court ruled that race-based admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

• The Complicated History Behind BLM's Solidarity With The Pro-Palestinian Movement

• Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones the gardener's tale - video, paper

• In 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry looked at the nature of racial harassment in publicly funded universities in England, Scotland and Wales and produced a report on tackling racial harassment.

• Sheffield BAME Medics Society which Hend co-founded and paper co-authored by Hend on Strategies to tackle racial inequilities in medical school (https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13413)

• Kline, R. 2014. The snowy white peaks of the NHS: a survey of discrimination in governance and leadership and the potential impact on patient care in London and England. London Middlesex University. https://doi.org/10.22023/mdx.12640421.v1

Hend Rashed and Princess Banda join us to explore race, equity, and liberation in UK academia, sharing insights on dismantling institutional racism and reimagining what anti-racist education can truly look like. Recorded on 5 July 2023. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Hend Rashed and Princess Banda to explore what anti-racism looks like within UK higher education. Hend, a physician and trailblazer, founded a Race Equality Working Group at the University of Sheffield’s Medical School and co-authored a paper on tackling racial inequalities in medical education. Princess, a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, brings her expertise in medical anthropology, Black maternal health, and curriculum decolonisation to the conversation. Together, we unpack how anti-racism is defined, particularly comparing UK and US contexts, while exploring themes of equality, equity, and liberation. We discuss the different forms of racism: individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural, with Hend and Princess offering honest reflections from their experiences in Russell Group universities in the UK. We also discuss the impact of social media, the myth of meritocracy in academia, and what it means to create meaningful, long-lasting change. This is a nuanced, enriching, and timely conversation, one we hope inspires deeper thought and continued action within educational spaces. Referenced in the podcast:

• the National Museum of African American History and Culture outlines different definitions of racism.

• Equality, equity and liberation: tackling racial bias

• Affirmative action: US Supreme Court overturns race-based college admissions. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race as one of many factors that can be considered in a holistic admissions process. However, in the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decisions, the Court ruled that race-based admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

• The Complicated History Behind BLM's Solidarity With The Pro-Palestinian Movement

• Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones the gardener's tale - video, paper

• In 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry looked at the nature of racial harassment in publicly funded universities in England, Scotland and Wales and produced a report on tackling racial harassment.

• Sheffield BAME Medics Society which Hend co-founded and paper co-authored by Hend on Strategies to tackle racial inequilities in medical school (https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13413)

• Kline, R. 2014. The snowy white peaks of the NHS: a survey of discrimination in governance and leadership and the potential impact on patient care in London and England. London Middlesex University. https://doi.org/10.22023/mdx.12640421.v1