Welcome to our new Professor of Race and Education

Welcome Paul, how would you describe the focus of your research to someone unfamiliar with the field, and what inspired you to choose this path?

The big picture is that I work in the field of education research. Within that field my focus is on race, class, social justice and social theories of education. Joining the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality in the Carnegie School of Education is, for me, a perfect fit.

In a bit more detail, my research is rooted in critical race studies and in the wider flow of Black Atlantic thought. I draw upon these in examining: educational inequalities; the origins and durability of racism; representations of race and class in media and policy; and the current retreat from state-led multiculturalism.

Education research is often equated with schools, but the field is much broader than that. My focus has tended to be on post-compulsory education; professional and work-related learning; and informal learning. When I tell people I'm as interested in researching what hairdressers do as what happens in schools, they think I'm joking - but it's true! Increasingly, my focus is on educational policy and politics, and also social theory. Therefore, I work a lot with documents and texts.

Can you tell us about your career journey so far, leading to your new role as Professor?

I have quite a hinterland. My first job was in a record shop (I'm an obsessive music nerd). I then worked for several years during the 1980s in the now mostly vanished world of independent black and antiracist publishing and book distribution, immersed in a national network of community bookshops and education centres. That period was very important in influencing my later academic direction.

I then taught English Literature and Black Studies in further education in Birmingham for over a decade. Again, teaching on Access programmes and working with mature students was very influential and led to my studying part-time for a PhD on access students' experiences.

I entered academia almost by accident, being persuaded by a friend to take a punt on a post at the University of Nottingham and unexpectedly getting the job! Since then, I've researched, taught and written at the Universities of Birmingham (for 13 years) and Warwick (my first professorial post). In the past few years I have worked as an independent education consultant.

What attracted you to Leeds Beckett and the Research Lead role within our Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality?

I have long admired LBU's Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality (CRED). Given my research interests and experience, CRED feels like an academic home. The opportunity arose to be part of CRED, as Research Lead and Professor of Race and Education. I knew that there was a strong synergy between my professional values and CRED's commitment to challenging racism and structural race inequalities in education through research. I had to apply.

CRED became a leading-edge centre under Vini Lander and, before that, Shirley-Anne Tate. I am excited to be helping lead its new chapter, alongside Rachel Boyle and Heather Paul, CRED's new Director and Associate Director.

What are your long-term aspirations for the centre - and your immediate priorities for the next year?

In the coming year CRED is relaunching under a new leadership team. It is a new, exciting phase but it is also happening at a challenging time when racism, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment are resurgent. As part of CRED's leadership team, I plan to lead and support the development of rigorous research - both 'applied' and 'scholarly' - that will impact on education policy and practice, inform public debate and strongly influence scholarship on race, education and decoloniality.

As a research centre at LBU, CRED will, I hope, develop as a both a research 'hub' and 'spoke'. That is, CRED will be central in leading LBU's research on race, education and social justice, but will also seek to contribute its research expertise to projects led by other Schools and Centres.

I am keen to foster a research culture that is collegial and inclusive: drawing on the diverse expertise of CRED-affiliated staff and co-designing and developing projects with CRED's established networks of schools, colleges, professional bodies, community organisations and other HEIs. I shall draw on my own experience to mentor and support colleagues, creating opportunities to develop their research, publishing and public engagement.

What have been the standout highlights of your career so far?

I have been privileged to work with some outstanding academics and some great students. Some of the highlights of my career in education are not high profile. For example, during my time as an access and A-Level tutor I worked with students who were not confident they could succeed in education but, through their own determination, made it in the end.

My highlights as an academic have included: publishing the first ever book-length study of Black British educational and intellectual movements; organising the first national UK conference on Critical Race Theory; co-founding the University of Birmingham's Centre for Research in Race and Education; and publishing my most recent book Permanent Racism, exploring the durability of racism in the British context.

There have been other standout moments, such as being invited to speak at Morehouse College, Atlanta, one of the USA's most distinguished historically black colleges and the alma mater of Martin Luther King - a very rare occasion for a British academic.

And can you tell us something about yourself that we may not know?

I am in my 'mature years', living with my family, books and what people of my vintage call 'records' (or CDs). So...

The book I've most enjoyed this year in fiction is Jonathan Coe's The Proof of My Innocence (Penguin).

The non-fiction book I've most enjoyed is Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire (John Murray Books) by Kojo Koram.

The albums I've enjoyed most this year are Forever Howlong, the new release by Black Country New Road; and a reissued jazz fusion album from 1974, Bennie Maupin's The Jewel in the Lotus.

My favourite shoes are still Dr Martens and my favourite biscuits are still dark chocolate gingers. Nice to meet you!