Mel Williams (she/her)

Mel is a third year PhD Student based in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York. The current working title for her PhD is: ‘We are Here to Stay Inna Inglan: Britain’s Immigration Regime, Contingent Status and Belonging Amongst Windrush Descendants of Jamaican Heritage’.

Alongside her studies, Mel is also involved in community work and activism, mostly focussed on social justice, anti-racism, access to justice, and ‘Windrush’. Mel is co-founder and member of the ‘Anti-Racism Working Group’ based at the University of York, EDI Consultant at the Anthony Walker Foundation and an active member of various regional anti-racism focussed organisations. Mel particularly believes in the importance of connecting activism with research, legal practice and the arts to trigger necessary change, and has worked with the rest of the conference team to create this interdisciplinary space for PhD students and ECRs.

Susy Williams (she/her)

Susy is a third year PhD student, based in the University of York Politics and International Relations Department. Her research, situated within Critical Political Economy and Labour Migration Studies, is focused on the barriers to addressing the (super)exploitation of migrant workers in the fast fashion manufacturing industry in the UK. She adopts critical approaches in her research, including frameworks from post/de/anti-colonial, post-Marxist, post-structuralist and feminist theoretical lenses, while aiming to be disruptive in research methodology.

Additionally to her research, Susy has co-led the Anti-Racism Working Group with Mel since early 2022, and is involved in other social justice activist work. She collaboratively set up and coordinated the York Staff-Student Alliance with four other PGRs; works closely with a garment worker rights organisation which informs her approach to research; and supports different local community groups within York, including migrant solidarity and Palestinian solidarity campaigns.

Katie Heffron (she/her)

Katie, a part-time PhD student at the University of York's Department for Education, is investigating how university staff build their capability for contributing to decolonising knowledge efforts. Her research involves facilitating dialogue with staff to explore colonial legacies within institutional structures and how they influence everyday practices. Additionally, Katie works as a Capacity and Policy Engagement Manager for York’s Policy Engine, where she manages a growing training portfolio aimed at supporting staff and students to build the internal capacity for policy engagement at York.

Jonathan is a graduate in Chemical Engineering and currently pursuing a MA in Public Administration and Public Policy at the University of York. Hailing from Malaysia, his wide ranging interests in civic engagement and youth issues have led him to contribute actively as a writer to newspapers and campaign alongside non-governmental organisations. He is also actively involved in student politics, having served as the Ethnic Diversity Officer at Newcastle University Students’ Union and sat on an advisory board at his university working towards promoting equity among students.

Jonathan's passions include student representation, advancing the interests of underrepresented communities, and fostering substantive participation.

CJ Simon is a first year PhD at the University of Sheffield's department of Politics and International Relations. His research is interesting in understanding the role popular culture plays in influencing public attitudes and behaviours. CJ's PhD project is specifically interested in how historical fiction is used to shape our collective memory of colonialism and our understanding of how to resist structures of white supremacy. His research involves reaching out and talking with audiences and cultural producers to understand their experience of the structures of cultural production and consumption.

Outside of this work, CJ is a passionate theatre-maker and poet; working with a wide spectrum of organisations to tell socially engaged stories that help audiences digest complex political phenomena.

Dr Paula McLean

Dr Paula McLean graduated with her PhD from the University of Wolverhampton in 2024. She is a former Probation Officer and her current role is that of a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Sheffield Hallam University.

Her thesis was concerned with examining the experiences of Black women in the criminal justice system (CJS) utilising a Black feminist lens to analyse their personal narratives. Her interest was piqued through both her career as a Probation Officer and a Black woman witnessing the disparities and the disregard of academia, government state agencies to actively address the invisibility, mistreatment and silenced voices of this group of women.

Paula seeks to continue to research the plight of Black women in the CJS. Her most recent work is a book chapter discussing Black women's activism in prisons. The book is due to be released in January 2026 entitled ‘Women, Relationships and Criminal Justice: The Personal and Professional.’

Mel Williams (she/her)

Susy Williams (she/her)

Katie Heffron (she/her)

Jonathan Lee

CJ Simon

Dr Paula McLean