The Department is a place that values diversity, inclusivity and kindness, as exemplified in our Department Values and Behaviours Framework.
Organised by many different members of Psychiatry’s Race Equality Working Group, the events aimed to celebrate diversity and elevate the fantastic work being done by Black researchers, both within and outside the Department, to address mental health issues faced by Black people.
Academic presentations
Two members of the Department – Briana Applewhite and Dr Boluwatife Cole – were joined by Dr Sarah Essilfie-Quaye, from Imperial College London, in giving presentations about their work.
© Dr Sarah Essilfie-QuayeDr Essilfie-Quaye is the first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Fellow at Imperial College London. She also leads the EQuity Lab, exploring racial and gender inequalities in academic careers and how these affect under-served groups in clinical research. She presented her paper ‘Where are my Black professors? The research culture preventing Black researchers from thriving in UK institutions’.
Beyond her research at Imperial, she serves as Co-Chair of the Black Postdoctoral Network, and is part of Imperial As One, the College’s Race Equality Network. She also continues to contribute across numerous committees, including the Network of Excellence in Women’s Health and the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team.
On speaking at the event, Dr Essiilfie-Quaye said:
It was an honour to contribute to the ongoing dialogue around equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia. I believe it is vital that we continue to support our institutions in cultivating environments where diverse voices are not only heard but truly valued and empowered to lead. This is how transformative research happens, and how meaningful change follows.”
Briana Applewhite is a final year DPhil student in the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing supervised by Professor Morten Kringelbach. She is also co-chair of the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club (more on that below). She spoke about her research 'The BLACK-ARTS study: Creative Arts Therapies as a tool for flourishing', funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley. Her work focuses on the use of creative arts therapies, namely music and dance, as alternative therapeutic methods for children and adolescents with symptoms of trauma and PTSD. She has a strong interest in ethnic minority populations, with her DPhil focusing specifically on Black racial minority groups and the uses of creative arts therapies as potentially viable and culturally competent solutions for individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders.
Dr Boluwatife Cole is a medical doctor, Rhodes Scholar and DPhil student in the Department of Psychiatry. She presented her research on cross-cultural differences in young people’s decision-making, adversity and mental health. She hopes to engage with children and adolescents, minority ethnic groups, and policy makers, to help bridge the gap between empirical research and patient care. She is also a Oxford Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging Engagement Ambassador.
Race and Psychiatry Journal club
The Race and Psychiatry Journal Club has returned for a new academic year, now co-organised by DPhil students Briana Applewhite and Sakshi Rajesh.
The Race and Psychiatry Journal Club’s mission is to advance racial health equity and investigate how racism and discrimination interact with mental health. It aims to provide space for critical reflection on how race is considered in psychiatric research, as well as gain insight into the unique challenges faced by minoritised individuals in healthcare.
Race and Psychiatry Journal Club co-chairs Briana Applewhite (second left) and Sakshi Rajesh (right) meet speakers Dr Nkosi Stoll (left) and Giovanne Bento Paulino.
This month’s talk was by Dr Nkasi Stoll, from King's College London, and Giovanne Bento Paulino for a session entitled “How can I thrive in an institution that hates me?”: Anti-Black racism, student mental health, and the power of peer support”, discussing key qualitative findings on Black students’ mental health in the UK, peer support interventions, and parallel work in Brazil.
Read Dr Stoll's research profile and papers
The Race and Psychiatry Journal Club is a monthly event, which anyone can join. Find out more.
Dr Amy Gillespie, Co-Chair of the Race Equality Working Group, said:
Across the research talks and journal club, it was brilliant to hear about such a variety of research addressing Black mental health: from developing our understanding of how important cognitive mechanisms do or don’t translate cross-culturally to sub-Saharan populations (and the novel methodologies used to conduct this research); to the promise of more culturally appropriate and engaging mental health interventions for Black people in the UK, by stepping away from traditional talking therapies and engaging with creative arts; to exploring how the university environment and culture itself can harm or help the mental health and career success of Black students and staff. In the Race Equality group, we’ll be discussing some of the topics raised, such as how low expectations and lack of opportunities for networking particularly hinders Black academics, and whether our department/division would benefit from a peer support group for Black students specifically.”
Celebrating diversity in our Department
The Department of Psychiatry is a place that values diversity, inclusivity and kindness, as exemplified in our Department Values and Behaviours. Earlier this month staff and students were asked what our international and diverse team means to them. Members of the department were invited to post notes on a board and you can see some of the responses below.
Meanwhile a series of movie nights were organised, showing films that highlight different aspects of Black history. They included Hidden Figures, a film about three African-American female mathematicians who played a pivotal role in NASA's space race.
- The Race Equality Working Group always welcomes new staff and student members - email the co-chairs Amy or Anutra to find out more.