Power and Privilege in Academia

Annabel Sowemimo and Amaka Offiah share powerful insights on dismantling hierarchies in academia and medicine, exposing the myths of meritocracy and the urgent need to transform education and healthcare systems. Recorded on 31 July 2023. In this episode, we speak with Dr Annabel Sowemimo and Professor Amaka Offiah about power, privilege, and the urgent need to disrupt entrenched hierarchies within medicine and academia. Annabel is a physician, PhD candidate, writer, and founder of the Reproductive Justice Initiative. She’s also the author of Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare. Amaka is a Professor and Consultant Paediatric Radiologist, and remarkably, the first Black African female professor at the University of Sheffield and only the third in medicine across England. Together, we examine how hierarchies are constructed and maintained, and how both guests have navigated, challenged, and reshaped those systems from within. We discuss the tension between ideals of equal opportunity and the structural realities of selective education, and the idea of becoming a “class traitor” as a form of resistance. This is a candid and thought-provoking conversation that invites us to reflect on the systems we operate in and the transformative power of disrupting them. Referenced in the podcast:

● NHS – Race and Health Observatory and University of Manchester published the report - Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare: A Rapid Evidence Review and Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare: A Rapid Evidence Review summary by Dharmi Kapadia, Jingwen Zhang, Sarah Salway, James Nazroo, Andrew Booth, Nazmy Villarroel-Williams, Laia Bécares & Aneez Esmail, February 2022

● Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "The Danger of a Single Story" Ted Talk, in 2009, explores the negative influences that a “single story” can have as it can rob people of their dignity, and emphasizes there are so many differences amongst those of us who are homogenised under particular labels.

● Professor Lilian Otaye-Ebede becomes the 41st Black Female Professor in the UK

● Generation Delta is an Office for Students/Research England funded project running from 2022-2026, led by six BAME female professors, all of whom are members of the Black Female Professors Forum.

● Melanin medics is a national charity promoting racial diversity in Medicine, widening aspirations and aiding career progression.

Annabel Sowemimo and Amaka Offiah share powerful insights on dismantling hierarchies in academia and medicine, exposing the myths of meritocracy and the urgent need to transform education and healthcare systems. Recorded on 31 July 2023. In this episode, we speak with Dr Annabel Sowemimo and Professor Amaka Offiah about power, privilege, and the urgent need to disrupt entrenched hierarchies within medicine and academia. Annabel is a physician, PhD candidate, writer, and founder of the Reproductive Justice Initiative. She’s also the author of Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare. Amaka is a Professor and Consultant Paediatric Radiologist, and remarkably, the first Black African female professor at the University of Sheffield and only the third in medicine across England. Together, we examine how hierarchies are constructed and maintained, and how both guests have navigated, challenged, and reshaped those systems from within. We discuss the tension between ideals of equal opportunity and the structural realities of selective education, and the idea of becoming a “class traitor” as a form of resistance. This is a candid and thought-provoking conversation that invites us to reflect on the systems we operate in and the transformative power of disrupting them. Referenced in the podcast:

● NHS – Race and Health Observatory and University of Manchester published the report - Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare: A Rapid Evidence Review and Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare: A Rapid Evidence Review summary by Dharmi Kapadia, Jingwen Zhang, Sarah Salway, James Nazroo, Andrew Booth, Nazmy Villarroel-Williams, Laia Bécares & Aneez Esmail, February 2022

● Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "The Danger of a Single Story" Ted Talk, in 2009, explores the negative influences that a “single story” can have as it can rob people of their dignity, and emphasizes there are so many differences amongst those of us who are homogenised under particular labels.

● Professor Lilian Otaye-Ebede becomes the 41st Black Female Professor in the UK

● Generation Delta is an Office for Students/Research England funded project running from 2022-2026, led by six BAME female professors, all of whom are members of the Black Female Professors Forum.

● Melanin medics is a national charity promoting racial diversity in Medicine, widening aspirations and aiding career progression.

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Sabrina Germain discuss the injustices, barriers, and challenges faced by minoritised academics in the publishing world, and the changes needed. Recorded on 6 June 2023. In this episode, we speak with Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Sabrina Germain about structural inequities in academic publishing, asking who gets to produce and share knowledge, and what systemic barriers shape the field. Agomoni is a senior lecturer in Bioethics and Global Health Ethics and Deputy Director of the Mason Institute at the University of Edinburgh, whose work addresses power, exploitation, justice, and vulnerability in global health. Sabrina is a Reader in Healthcare Law and Policy at the City University of London, with a focus on distributive justice and the role of medical professionals in shaping healthcare policy. Together, they examine how geographic, linguistic, and institutional biases in publishing perpetuate colonial and elitist hierarchies of knowledge, often excluding scholars from the Global South and marginalised communities. From discriminatory peer review comments to the privileging of Western collaborations, we explore how these practices limit both who gets published and what counts as “valuable” research. This conversation highlights the urgent need for reform in academic publishing—toward more inclusive, representative, and equitable systems of knowledge production that reflect a truly global and justice-oriented scholarly community.

Related podcast: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-c39ry-15c51a0

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Sabrina Germain discuss the injustices, barriers, and challenges faced by minoritised academics in the publishing world, and the changes needed. Recorded on 6 June 2023. In this episode, we speak with Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Sabrina Germain about structural inequities in academic publishing, asking who gets to produce and share knowledge, and what systemic barriers shape the field. Agomoni is a senior lecturer in Bioethics and Global Health Ethics and Deputy Director of the Mason Institute at the University of Edinburgh, whose work addresses power, exploitation, justice, and vulnerability in global health. Sabrina is a Reader in Healthcare Law and Policy at the City University of London, with a focus on distributive justice and the role of medical professionals in shaping healthcare policy. Together, they examine how geographic, linguistic, and institutional biases in publishing perpetuate colonial and elitist hierarchies of knowledge, often excluding scholars from the Global South and marginalised communities. From discriminatory peer review comments to the privileging of Western collaborations, we explore how these practices limit both who gets published and what counts as “valuable” research. This conversation highlights the urgent need for reform in academic publishing—toward more inclusive, representative, and equitable systems of knowledge production that reflect a truly global and justice-oriented scholarly community.

Related podcast: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-c39ry-15c51a0