CONVERSATIONS: ON EDUCATION

Kerry James Marshall’s ‘Portrait of Henry Louis Gates Jr’ is the inspiration for a stimulating conversation on equity in education, cultural humility and systemic solutions between Founder and CEO of The Paradigm Project, Joel Dun, and Founder and CEO of Mindset Matters Jade Ecobichon-Gray.

Joel and Jade are both PhD candidates in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, at St Edmund’s College and Homerton College respectively.

Image: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2020. © Kerry James Marshall. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, London

American Henry Louis Gates Jr, a prominent figure in African and African American literary studies and Black Studies, arrived at Cambridge in 1973 where he earned his MA and PhD in English Literature at Clare College. Renowned American artist and professor, Kerry James Marshall, gifted his 2020 portrait of Gates to Cambridge University in 2024. The portrait is on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Founder’s Galleries.

There are just 165 Black professors in the UK, out of 23,515. Only 61 UK professors are Black women. This highlights the structural and systemic barriers to advancement in higher education facing Black academics. Barriers to Black Academia, an initiative founded in 2019 by Dr Malik Al Nasir (University of Cambridge, St Catharine’s College) and Dr Leona Vaughn (University of Liverpool), summarises two reports from the University of Liverpool and the University of Bristol, which outline the experiences of Black academics and discuss actions to be taken to improve Black representation in higher education institutions. 

Learn about the recommendations, made for government, policy makers, regulators, higher education providers and funding bodies here.

Jade Ecobichon-Gray is Founder and CEO of Mindset Matters. Jade is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, at St Edmund’s College. Hear more about Jade’s work here.

Joel Dun is founder and CEO of The Paradigm Project. Joel is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge at Homerton College. Learn more about Joel’s research and practice here.