Activism and advocacy as a postgraduate

Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad join Kumeri Bandara to explore the opportunities, challenges, and complexities of postgraduate-led activism and advocacy in academia. Recorded on 12 June 2023. This episode is a little different from our usual format—it's a recording of a live panel discussion, shared here with the speakers' prior consent. The event took place at the 2023 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference, held in June at the University of Edinburgh. In this panel discussion hosted by Kumeri Bandara, we hear from senior academics Prof Patricia Kingori, Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, and Dr Ayesha Ahmad, as they explore what it means to engage in activism and advocacy as postgraduate scholars navigating academic institutions. Drawing on their personal experiences, the panellists reflect on how their encounters with structural inequities and microaggressions shaped their commitment to academic citizenship and social justice work. They offer practical insights on incorporating advocacy into research practices, mentoring, and everyday academic life—emphasising the importance of community, strategic action, and ethical responsibility. With honest reflections on navigating institutional politics, short-term contracts, and the myth of meritocracy, the panellists highlight the double burden often placed on marginalised researchers and the quiet forms of resistance that make meaningful change possible. This conversation is both candid and empowering, offering guidance for early-career scholars seeking to challenge inequity while sustaining themselves and each other in the process.

Om Podcasten

The Power and Privilege in Academia podcast series is organised by the Black and Brown in Bioethics (BBB) organisation, which aims to achieve racial equity within the UK bioethics community. The series is supported by the Ethox Centre (University of Oxford) and funded by the University of Bristol and Research England. The series explores the intersecting dynamics of power and privilege in academic spaces, and engages with a wide spectrum of related themes including anti-racism, disrupting hierarchies, inclusivity in publishing, representation and research culture, gaps within public and community engagement, and the role of legacies, narratives, and identities in shaping academic belonging. Each episode is hosted by one of the BBB co-founders, Harleen Kaur Johal, Matimba Swana, or Kumeri Bandara, and features conversations with one to three academics working on different forms of social justice. Through these dialogues, the series seeks not only to illuminate entrenched structures of power and privilege, but also to imagine more inclusive and equitable futures within academia. The series was produced and audio engineered by Faiq Habash, with original music by Qasim Ashraf (kxtone), and business administration by Nicholas Pitt.