2024

The ‘Race’ and Socially Engaged Research: Open and Inclusive Conference for PGRs and ECRs was set up by the PGR-led Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG) in 2023. The conference was initiated to fill a lacuna in the traditional academic conference space of a welcoming space for postgraduate and early career researchers to present their research. We created the conference by drawing upon our knowledge of, and lived experiences of, difficulties navigating these traditional academic conferences when being critical researchers and/or from racially minoritised backgrounds. We understood that these spaces can be very daunting for people just beginning their careers in research, and we hence aimed to create a space whereby junior researchers could develop their skills and receive peer-feedback on their work. We also hoped to provoke discussions around forming communities in scholar-activist research and going beyond academic institutions, thereby disrupting structural racism and other injustices that are present in academic institutions.

Having set up the conference in 2023, this time we built upon the previous year’s feedback from attendees, funders and invited guests of the conference. We had received positive feedback for how the conference was organised and communications around the event, including the sign-up process being easy to navigate. However, we felt as an organising team that more support was needed for us to manage communications in future as the administrative load was very significant. Hence, for 2024, we recruited an additional member of the team to support us. We also set up our own website to support distribution and accessibility of information about the conference, including our fantastic line up of speakers on the programme. 

We received feedback that the conference was well-run, affirming and validating. But not all were sure they found it entirely accessible. We received suggestions to avoid academic jargon and make the conference more interactive. We created a new safe space guidance sheet for this year, which advised presenters, speakers and facilitators to use accessible language and presentation formats wherever possible. We also incorporated workshops this year to encourage more participation from attendees. 

Respondents to our 2023 feedback form also wanted more panellists and for the event to be spread over 2 days rather than 1 which we took on board and implemented this year. 

Finally, we received a suggestion to set up a steering committee of external members to support the smooth running of the conference and to gain feedback and guidance throughout the year. We had 3 meetings before the conference, which supported us in actioning important tasks, getting in touch with various stakeholders and the committee provided a ‘sounding board’ for our different ideas as an organising team.

From 4:30pm to 6:30pm following the first day of the event, an evening reception was held at the York St John Holgate Dining Hall titled ‘Resisting Hate Crime, Racism and Intolerance’ with keynote speaker Sarli Nana from Migrants Organise and a mini-roundtable of four local activists and organisers. Sarli discussed his experience of the UK asylum system and his decades spent fighting for migrants' rights. This was also an opportunity designed for engaging with local community groups and building networks with other scholar-activists.