Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
For the Annual Race Lecture 2023 we will draw on the themes of Black Resistance, Saluting our Sisters and the We Matter movement.
This event recognises important intersections between race and gender. In the year that Leeds Beckett University achieved Race Equality accreditation, building on the Athena Swan award, it also addresses the need for solidarity and allyship across identity groups, with a strong assertion that everyone matters.
With a focus on health and education, the event opens with an introduction from Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Silke Machold. The keynote speaker is Professor Amaka Offiah and is followed by a panel discussion with Lara Rose, Olumide Ajulo and Professor Offiah. This year’s Annual Race Lecture celebrates achievements and contributions and reflect on how we continue to thrive within the fight for equality.
Please join us from 17:00 for registration and refreshments in the Rose Bowl ground floor. The lecture will start promptly at 18:15 in Lecture Theatre A.
Professor Amaka Offiah is the Faculty Director for wellbeing and EDI, and co-chair of the Race Equality Charter Mark self-assessment team at Sheffield University.
Professor Amaka Offiah’s undergraduate training took place in Nigeria and she obtained her MRCP while working at Oldchurch Hospital, Essex and then trained as a radiologist in Sheffield.
Professor Offiah moved back to London, to Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health, and obtained a PhD for her thesis, ‘Optimisation of the digital radiographic imaging of suspected non-accidental injury’. Then returned to Sheffield as a HEFCE-funded Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Academic Unit of Child Health, was promoted to Reader in Paediatric Musculoskeletal Imaging in January 2015 and promoted to Chair in Paediatric Musculoskeletal Imaging in January 2020.
Professor Silke Machold is the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Leeds Beckett University.
Lara Rose is a Leeds visual artist, sculptor, poet, author, singer, and songwriter with roots in Yoruba culture. In March 2021 her poetry was published in the much-anticipated anthology, Weighted Words by Peepal Tree Press following her first book, Victory the Other Side – 24 Simple Tips to Keep Going Daily self-published in 2016.
Lara completed her MA (Art & Design) with Distinction at Leeds Beckett University (LBU) in September 2018 and is currently following up with PhD studies. Her research is focusing on how Yoruba culture influences artistic practices in Leeds including assemblage installation, sculpture, carnival, music production, Yoruba oriki (praise songs) and the role of word play. She coined the term "Afropolitan melodies" and “Afro Dada” fusing Yoruba and English languages and culture in her writing, musical and artistic practice.
Lara was also a part of Geraldine Connor’s phantasmagorical Carnival Messiah, at Harewood House and Royal Albert Hall and is now a Creative Associate of the Geraldine Connor Foundation. Much inspired by Geraldine Connor, Lara birthed and is developing Nomad Woman a multi-disciplinary Yoruba influenced artistic project. Lara is also resurrecting the ancient Yoruba sculpture (Aworan) practice of venerating community leaders especially our women, starting with a memorial civic sculpture of Dr Geraldine Roxanne Connor currently installed at the Leeds City Museum. The life size ultramarine blue statue of Geraldine is the first statue of a black woman in Leeds.
Olumide Ajulo is the Counselling Team Manager within the Library and Student Services Department at Leeds Beckett University. He is a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with experience working in private practice, the Third sector, Higher and Further Education. He has a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy, and is in the process of completing his MSc in Psychology. He is passionate about using his training to support people from different backgrounds with their mental health.
