We recognise that we cannot have selective memory about our past, focusing only on the historical achievements which make us feel proud.
The University is unwavering its commitment to a future where racism, racial discrimination, and racialised inequalities have no place in higher education or society.
As part of its commitment to address historic and contemporary issues of inequalities, the University commissioned its Race Review in 2021.
Issues of race, contemporary racism and features of its history all deserved further inquiry and the University wanted work in this area to be sector-leading, conducted with integrity and to set a standard for our future.
Academically led
The review is a landmark, academically-led examination, thought to be one of the most ambitious, wide-ranging and sustained consultations of its kind.
Now published, it is the result of more than four years of dedicated research, community engagement and collaboration led by Professor Tommy Curry, Dr Nicola Frith and a team of experts.
Spanning more than 170 pages and accompanied by six appendices with detailed evidence supporting its research strands – the Race Review proposes nearly fifty recommendations for the University to consider.
The work was overseen by a Steering Group chaired by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, who sadly died in June this year. Scotland’s first Black professor, Sir Geoff was a distinguished University alumnus and respected advocate for racial equality.
Review findings
Investigations have brought to light powerful, confronting and often lesser-known accounts of the University’s historical ties to slavery and colonialism, the legacy of racist teachings and current challenges around race and inclusion.
Alongside the independent academic paper, Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh’s History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism, a Race Review Policy Report has been released, advising on how current practice might be adapted to better reflect the University’s values.
Driving change
In response to the Race Review’s findings and recommendations, the University has set out a series of immediate actions and long-term commitments, recognising that sustained and meaningful change requires time, transparency and ongoing engagement.
These efforts will be spearheaded by a Response Group, co-led by the University’s Lead on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Fiona McClement, and Dr Omolabake Fakunle, Senior Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University’s Moray House School of Education and Sport.
Actions include supporting continued research into racial injustice, strengthening connections with minoritised communities and boosting scholarship opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Other commitments include enhancing the campus environment and reinforcing anti-racist educational programmes.
As part of the institution’s response, the University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson – who chairs University Executive, which commissioned the review – has issued a formal statement in which he apologises to all individuals and communities affected by the legacies of the University’s connections to enslavement and colonialism.
Together, the actions reflect the University’s commitment to acknowledging all aspects of its history and to embedding a truly inclusive and diverse place in which to study, work and visit.
We cannot have a selective memory about our past, focusing only on the historical achievements which make us feel proud. We are right to address its complexities too, and learn from those aspects which are highly challenging to confront. I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed to this wide-ranging and significant work, including Sir Geoff Palmer, who chaired the Steering Group until its final stages. We will honour his memory through our ongoing commitment to advancing race equality within our institution and in society more broadly.
Professor Sir Peter Mathieson
Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh
This review demonstrates a level of self-reflection that very few institutions have had the courage to embark on. Through the work of myself and my research colleagues, we have fundamentally changed what we understood as the Scottish Enlightenment. We have shown that the study of racial difference had a major home here, and that there are legacies of discrimination that we still have to correct today. We hope our findings will enable the University to emerge as a better version of itself. This sets a standard for other institutions to not only reconsider their historical perspectives and legacies, but also their institutional culture.
Professor Tommy Curry
Co-Chair of the Race Review’s Research and Engagement Working Group
This review has been a long journey and we’ve learned a lot. We’ve placed a huge amount of effort into joining the dots between the past and present to uncover the impact on our students, staff and global community from racially and ethnically minoritised communities. The University is in the business of producing knowledge, so now it can be in the business of producing decolonised and reparatory forms of knowledge that genuinely embrace and include those communities it has harmed in the way that it thinks, acts and is structured.
Dr Nicola Frith
Co-Chair of the Race Review’s Research and Engagement Working Group
