Annual Race Lecture 2022

Rachel C. Boyle is the Dean of Carnegie School of Education and formerly the Head of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Carnegie School of Education, and is the first women of colour to be appointed as dean at Leeds Beckett University. She is a former Primary School teacher who spent many happy years teaching the children of Huyton, Liverpool before she made the move in higher education in 2010. After ten years working at Edge Hill in Lancashire, Rachel was delighted to join the team at the Carnegie School of Education in 2020. 

Rachel’s passion and research focuses on race, racism ethnicity and education. She uses critical race theory as a theoretical framework to examine ‘race’ inequalities in society, specifically in education. The experiences she had growing up as a mixed race child in the 1980s have underpinned Rachel’s passion for and commitment to addressing racial inequality in education. She has worked with trainee teachers to examine the impact of race, racism and ethnicity on the educational experiences of children and young people. Rachel encourages her students to develop an understanding of the position of the ‘other’ and to use their voices to ensure that the teaching profession consistently evolves to meet the needs of the children it serves. 

More recently Rachel has worked across the media to provide commentary on societal issues of racism including the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement and racism within the UK.  

Carole is a Leeds native who has worked for over 30 years in both the local authority and third sector. Having carried out many roles, much of her work has been alongside disadvantaged and marginalised communities.  She currently manages a team within the Adaptations Service and is the joint Chair of the BAME staff network within Leeds City Council.

Arfan is an experienced senior leader with 3 decades of leadership experience working in different parts of the country and covering a wide range of multi-disciplinary areas in the public and charity sectors. Arfan is currently CEO of Touchstone which delivers several mental health and wellbeing services across the diverse communities of South and West Yorkshire. Arfan first made contact with Touchstone as a service user 10 years ago after travelling through the institutional mental health pathways of the Health system.  Arfan believes that all lived experience including adversities are powerful assets in an accepting, inclusive and compassionate environment.  Arfan is a leader guided by lived experience and inclusiveness - putting the needs of people first.

Vini Lander is Professor of Race and Education and Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality in the Carnegie School of Education.

Vini’s research focuses on race, ethnicity and education. She uses critical race theory as a theoretical framework to examine ‘race’ inequalities in education, specifically in teacher education. The persistence of educational inequality from early years to higher education has spurred Vini to educate teachers to think beyond the status quo, which may perpetuate these inequalities. Teachers make a valuable contribution and deserve better preparation to teach in a diverse society. This has led to her inspirational teaching. Vini challenges students to think differently, supporting them to find ways to act to make a difference.

Maria Maynard is Professor of Health Inequalities, specialising in the patterning of health by ethnicity and migrant status. Her interests include how racism and other structural discrimination and exclusion shape physical and mental health and their intersections. Maria is Chair of the University’s Race Equality and Diversity Forum.