Following previous communications about the incidents of racially motivated and Islamophobic rioting and unrest across the country last summer, I wanted to provide a further update on the additional measures Leeds Trinity University has been putting in place to provide further support for our students and colleagues. 

Racism and Islamophobia are longstanding, significant issues requiring long-term commitment and action and, whilst we recognise we cannot control everything in the wider world, we are continuing to influence what happens within Leeds Trinity. 

The measures we have implemented to date to support our community include: 

• During students’ Welcome Week, the University and Leeds Trinity Students’ Union (LTSU) worked in collaboration to have a presence of ‘Stand Up to Racism’ messaging at the Freshers’ Fair and Wellbeing Week to communicate powerful messages of solidarity to our new and returning students. 
• A Task and Finish Group has been established to discuss racism on placements and supporting students to be active bystanders, in addition to educating placement settings on how to support students in the face of racism from the public. This work is ongoing and builds on the pioneering project created by Dr Naziya O’Reilly focused on mentoring of global majority students.
• The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has developed workshops which focus on implementing the Curriculum for Social Justice, of which the key strand is Race Equity. The race equity workshops are led by critical race scholars Dr Sean Walton and Syra Shakir.
• Colleagues were invited to join the series of webinars organised by Dr Tamsin Bowers-Brown focused on Pedagogies of Hope in times of global unrest.
• Professor Fiona Shelton has developed a series of workshops which take an intersectional lens to learning and teaching.
• Dr Shames Maskeen has co-created a series of webinars with Universities UK which focus on race and higher education.
• Chaired by Dr Tamsin Bowers-Brown, the ‘A Conversation’ event in early April 2025 will be attended by leaders from across the region and focus on anti-racist collaborative practices to support our community.
• A 6-month Nova Reid Anti-Racism programme is being delivered to senior leaders.
• Further Equity and Belonging information and resources were added to the intranet for colleagues, and detail about the support that is always available at Leeds Trinity has also been reiterated to students. 
• A second Social Justice Lecture Series was delivered, and opened with an event at Leeds Playhouse listening to people who had fled their countries and sought sanctuary in Leeds.
• The Leeds Trinity University Sanctuary Steering Group is supporting the approach to achieving University of Sanctuary status.
• Ricardo Barker, Associate Professor, and Syra Shakir led a co-creation project which informed the latest film from Ricardo Barker ‘Mind the Gap’, a film with accompanying resources which documents the manifestation of the awarding gap and the responsibilities of university staff to address this. The film was launched at Leeds Playhouse in January 2025 with a conference for colleagues to be held on 14 May. 
• A range of anti-racist training and development has been made available to colleagues including the ‘Re:Tension’ anti-racist toolkit training and Race Equity Pathway sessions.
• The Race Equality Charter (REC) team is preparing information, data, progress and future plans for embedding race equality at Leeds Trinity in line with the requirements for the Silver REC award. The submission will be made to Advance HE in July 2025.

This important work will continue. 

Please remember that there is a range of support available within the University, and our mental health and wellbeing resources can provide help and a safe space for anyone who needs them, both in person and online. 

As a University committed to social justice, we stand against all forms of racism, prejudice and hate. The University’s anti-racism statement and statement on Islamophobia condemn all forms of discrimination. Any incidents of harassment and abuse should be reported to the University through our online tool, Report Concerns. All reports are taken seriously and handled through well-established protocols.   

 Professor Charles Egbu, Leeds Trinity University Vice-Chancellor