Business School to celebrate Black History Month with ambitious events programme

Students, staff, alumni and the wider community will be able to attend a range of talks, panel discussions, workshops and Q&As addressing issues such as racism and curriculum diversification.

Every day throughout the month the Business School will highlight a Black Briton on its website and on social media, ranging from the pioneering nurse Mary Seacole to Joseph Junior Adenuga (aka the grime MC and producer Skepta). The profiles will serve as inspiration for a writing competition in which students research and write about a Black Briton of their choice.

The competition will be launched by Dr Patrick Vernon OBE, author of the landmark 100 Great Black Britons list, a campaign recently relaunched in an updated book with new role models and little-known historical figures.

Other highlights from the programme include a workshop that uses Lego to discuss questions of race, diversity and inclusion; an entrepreneurship hackathon in which students work with research data to address four specific problem areas for businesses to improve opportunities and integration for people of colour (POC); and a talk on the geographies of slavery tourism by Dr Emmanuel Adu-Ampong.

With other talks on topics such as community cohesion, Black entrepreneurship and bullying and harassment, as well as panel discussions on how businesses can support POC staff members, this year’s Black History Month programme is the broadest and most ambitious yet for the Business School.

During the month, The Business School will launch the hashtag #DICEforaBetterWorld, giving students and staff a platform on social media to discuss and share their thoughts on matters of diversity, inclusion, cohesion and equality both during Black History Month itself and in the future. 

The programme has been organised by Oliver Young, Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter Business School.

He said: “During October we are keen to promote a positive peer learning environment where staff and students can develop together and learn from one another.

“In meeting our diversity, inclusion, cohesion and equality commitments, we see Black History Month as the perfect opportunity to create a series of events and the space to better enable our community of students and staff to discuss and address important issues such as racism, diversity inclusion, cohesion and equality.”

See here to view the full range of events and booking options.