Lord Simon Woolley: a Leadership that inspires, a leadership that empowers - In-person

About this event

Join Lord Simon Woolley, co-founder of Operation Black Vote, as he presents the Olaudah Equiano Annual Lecture on Race Justice.

This event takes place on our Cambridge campus. You can also join us virtually.

During this exclusive event, Lord Woolley will discuss the fight for racial equality, drawing on his pivotal experiences in tackling racial inequalities in politics, health, education, and employment. Drawing on his impactful career, he will also examine ways of improving political participation and representation in leadership roles, with a view to addressing the social injustices affecting under-represented communities.

Lord Woolley will also consider efforts to widen access to higher education and the role of universities in leading the fight for race justice.

• Drinks reception 6pm
• Doors open 6.45pm
• Talks starts 7pm

About our speaker

Lord Simon Woolley is the Leicester-born founder and director of Operation Black Vote. He is a leading equalities activist and politician who is also the first Black man to head an Oxbridge College, becoming head of Cambridge University’s Homerton College in 2021. He is the trustee of the charity Police Now and the founder and director of Operation Black Vote. Lord Woolley was nominated for Life Peerage as a Crossbencher in the House of Lords in 2019 and, in the same year, received his knighthood for his services to race equality.

About the Olaudah Equiano Annual Race Justice lecture series

The Olaudah Equiano Annual Lecture on Race Justice is hosted by the Race Equality Committee at Anglia Ruskin University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. The lecture series is named after Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), an enslaved man who bought his freedom and wrote compellingly about his experiences, later becoming a prominent figure in the movement to abolish the slave trade. His legacy is particularly celebrated in Cambridgeshire and the East of England, where he set up home in his later life. In honouring Olaudah Equiano and his legacy, each lecture in the series is focused on a specific topic related to race equality and justice, and features carefully selected speakers who are recognised as having made substantive contributions to recognising, understanding, and promoting race justice equality.