Student Voices
Student Consultants: Bios

Savannah Blake

Savannah is a BA History student at Queen Mary University of London and began researching for the RAFA project during its pilot study. Her early research involved conducting interviews and focus groups concerning race in Higher Education. Her later work concentrates on the relationship between the BAME attainment gap and the diversity of assessment in Higher Education. She is particularly interested in developing pedagogic practices using critical race theory and the practicalities of curriculum design. Savannah has delivered a number of presentations at university conferences with her peer researcher Asmara Clark. This includes ‘How to Stop Institutionalised Racism in Academia: Through the Lens of the History Discipline’. Her current work, outside of the project, now focuses on race, ethnicity and immigration.

Contributing to this project has equipped me with fundamental skills which have enhanced my university education. Using non-reductive approaches to race, I have explored the experiences of people of colour in British society, within and alongside the history of Higher Education, and it has buttressed my understanding of data analysis through the gathering of primary and secondary research. Through a year-long Critical Race reading group, I have engaged with literature concerning pedagogy, race, and inequality. Having spoken publicly at several conferences at UK universities, and worked alongside peers, I understand the scope of the perspectives concerning race and education and the desperate need for this conversation.

Asmara Clark

Asmara is a BA History student who worked as a researcher on the RAFA initiative during her second year at Queen Mary University of London. During her time on the RAFA2 project, she has collected and analysed primary data, leading focus groups and conducting one-to-one interviews; participated in a critical race reading group; and supported the creation and facilitation of an anti-racist game* at a teaching and learning conference workshop. Asmara has also given several presentations at university conferences with her colleague Savannah Blake on ‘How to Stop Institutionalised Racism in Academia: Through the Lens of the History Discipline’. From this, she has delved deeper into the concept of engaging students as partners in Higher Education institutions as a way to enrich learning and teaching, and to resolve institutional problems like the BAME Attainment Gap.

*The game was created by ‘Building the Anti-Racist Classroom’ (BARC).

I have found the RAFA2 project to be one of my most valued experiences at university to date. The opportunities this initiative has provided me with have helped develop key employability skills, like public speaking, due to presenting our research and findings at numerous conferences. It has also improved my ability to synthesize large amounts of data effectively and efficiently as result of writing many reports on primary and secondary data. More significantly, RAFA2 has highlighted to me the subtleties of power in this complex world and has shown me how to navigate, address and overcome these implicit structures. Without this lesson, I fear I would have left university with a still blinkered view of the world.

Safiyah Ali Raja

Safiyah Ali Raja is a student researcher for the Reaching Assessment for All project and a BSc Geography undergraduate at Queen Mary University of London. Her work focuses on the issues of trust, pressure and participation in Higher Education and how to create an inclusive pedagogy by facilitating BME student and staff voices. Safiyah was the main analyst for the pilot study of RAFA and is focused on using the BME student experience to facilitate more effective learning practises and assessments. She has given presentations on RAFAs findings and the BME attainment gap with Higher Education at UCL, Queen Mary University and Roehampton University as well as having conducted original research on the experiences of BME students and race within HE for two years. She has also written extensive reports for RAFA concerning the qualitative and quantitative data collected with the study and what the data means for student and staff within HE.

The RAFA2 project has provided me with essential skills in qualitative and quantitative data analysis, presentation skills, research methods, communication and has strengthened my understanding of BAME-related issues within academia and organisations involved in addressing the problem. I have developed not only an interest and passion for RAFA's work, but key skills that have allowed me to progress in my professional life.

Rhoda Yaa Assah Manu

Rhoda Yaa Assah Manu is a student researcher for the Reaching Assessment for All project as well as a French & History undergraduate at Queen Mary University of London. Her work focuses on the absence of explicit racial discourse within higher education and the need for “race talks” to occur amongst students and educational practitioners in order to combat emotional labour experienced by BME students. Rhoda is interested in creating a meaningful space for BME students in academia and challenges the oxymoronic practice of colour-blind diversity. Her hobbies include public speaking and creative writing. She has given presentations on “race talks” at UCL, Queen Mary University and Roehampton University as well as conducted original research on the experiences of BME students and race within HEIs.

Being part of RAFA2 has provided me with skills that will last a lifetime. I have learnt how to articulate my thoughts and words with precision and clarity as a result of our insightful weekly meetings and the opportunities I had to deliver university presentations. RAFA2 has made me grapple and root my analyses in academic work and has equipped me with the ability to approach and dissect difficult, highly-charged environments where racial dialogue may ensue. This project, undoubtedly, has opened my eyes to the sheer scale and severity of institutional racism in Higher Education. Nevertheless, being surrounded by like-minded people, and discovering that there is a network of solidarity out there, with academics committed to the decolonisation of Higher Education, brings me comfort and encourages me to keep pushing in this struggle.