Race Forum

Birkbeck, University of London is a global centre for research and teaching on ‘race’ and racism. The founding mission of the College was to offer working people the opportunity to study at university and this has shaped the extensive production of important work in this subject area. Birkbeck is home to multidisciplinary communities of scholars and students, academic programmes and research centres committed to the study of ‘race’ and racism. The College will be building upon this work throughout 2024 as it enters its third centenary.  

The Race Forum at Birkbeck is a public forum that hosts lectures, seminars, symposia and reading groups on ‘race’ and racism in relation to histories and legacies of colonisation and the global geopolitics of the twenty-first century.

Recent events at the Race Forum have focused on different forms of state and corporate negligence and violence. Some have run parallel to some of the public inquiries taking place such as those on institutional child abuse, undercover policing and the fire at Grenfell Tower.