Associate Lecturer on Politics, University of York
@RemiAdekoya1

Before joining academia, Remi was a political journalist who has written for the Guardian, Sunday Times, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Washington Post, Politico, Spectator and UnHerd among others. He has provided sociopolitical commentary and analysis for CNN, BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, African International Television, Radio France International, Talk Radio and Times Radio among others. He is a former regular columnist for Business Day, a Nigerian daily, and a former political editor of Warsaw Business Journal. Remi sits on the Home Office Strategic Race Board as an external expert.

Books:
It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth (Forthcoming: 2023, Little, Brown)

Biracial Britain: What It Means to be Mixed-Race (2021, Little, Brown)

Fashion stylist and writer

@Ayishat_Akanbi

Ayishat Akanbi is a fashion stylist and writer based in London. She has styled Grammy award-winning reggae artist Koffee, classic British singer-songwriter, Rod Stewart and fashion icon Naomi Campbell. Ayishat’s writing is also interested in trends, such as the rise of identity-based narratives. Her writing explores the limits of identity and common errors that disguise disempowerment as a form of strength. Now that we are all broadcasters, Ayishat is motivated by the question, how do we learn to think for ourselves when doing so can lead to social exclusion? In the attempt to combat division, polarisation and extremism, Ayishat’s work seeks to highlight the way our similarities are concealed by in-group biases.

Books:
The Awokening: Clarity, Culture and Identity in the Web of Chaos (Forthcoming: 2023, Orion Publishing Co)

Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Arif Ahmed has been a Professor of Philosophy (Grade 12) since October 2022 and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius since 2015. His philosophical outlook is individualistic, atheistic and empiricist and his work applies this approach to questions in metaphysics, the theory of rational choice and philosophy of religion. He has campaigned for many years in defence of free speech and academic freedom. In recognition of this work he was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2021 and the Trustees' Award by Index on Censorship.

In late 2022, the Minister for Women and Equalities, and Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch MP appointed Ahmed as new Commissioner to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Board.

Books:
Evidential Decision Theory (2021, Cambridge University Press)

The Value of the Future (Forthcoming, Princeton University Press)

Headmistress, Michaela Community School; Fmr Chair, Social Mobility Commission

@Miss_Snuffy

Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School and former Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. She is known as ‘Britain’s Strictest Headmistress’, following the ITV documentary about Michaela. Michaela draws up to 1000 visitors a year from across the world.

In 2022, Michaela’s Progress 8 score placed the school top in the country. OFSTED has graded the school as “Outstanding” in every category.

Katharine read Philosophy & Modern Languages at The University of Oxford and has always taught in inner London. She has made numerous appearances on television, radio, podcasts and has written for several publications. Katharine has also written two books and edited another two.

Katharine was appointed Honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford in 2021 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2020.

Books:
Michaela: The Power of Culture (2020, John Catt)

Columnist and associate editor, Financial Times

@stephenkb

Stephen Bush is a British journalist. He is a columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times and the former political editor of the New Statesman. In 2017 he was named the PSA’s Journalist of the Year, and was shortlisted for Political Commentator of the Year by the Society of Editors. In June 2020, Bush was appointed to chair the Board of Deputies of British Jews' commission on racial inclusivity within the Jewish community.

Contributing writer, The Atlantic; Professor of Humanities at Bard College

@thomaschattwill

Thomas Chatterton Williams is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the author of Losing My Cool and Self-Portrait in Black and White. He is a Visiting professor of humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He was previously a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and a columnist at Harper’s. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, Le Monde and many other places, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. He has received support from New America, Yaddo, MacDowell, and The American Academy in Berlin, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees.

Books:
Nothing Was the Same: The Pandemic Summer of George Floyd and the Shift in Western Consciousness (Forthcoming: Knopf)

Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race. (2019, W. W. Norton & Company)

Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture (2010, The Penguin Press)

Writer and podcast host
@coldxman

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and opinion columnist who specializes in issues related to race, public policy and applied ethics. Coleman's writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He has appeared on many TV shows and podcasts, including Real Time with Bill Maher, Making Sense with Sam Harris, and The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast. In June 2019, he testified before a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee at a hearing on reparations for slavery, arguing against the campaign. Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Coleman briefly attended the Juilliard School to study jazz trombone before dropping out to pursue a career as an independent jazz/hip-hop artist. Shortly thereafter, Coleman discovered a passion for applied ethics and public policy at Columbia University, where he graduated with a B.A. in philosophy.

Books:
RACIALIZED (Forthcoming, Penguin Random House)

Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies

@PJTheEconomist

Paul has been Director of the IFS since January 2011. He is also currently a columnist for the Times, a visiting professor at University College London, and a member of the climate change committee. He is currently helping to lead the IFS-Deaton review of inequalities. He was awarded a CBE for services to the social sciences and economics in 2018. As well as a previous period of work at the IFS his career has included spells at HM Treasury and the Department for Education. Between 2004 and 2007 he was deputy head of the Government Economic Service.

Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences, Brown University
@GlennLoury

Glenn C. Loury is Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University. He holds the B.A. in Mathematics (Northwestern) and the Ph.D. in Economics (M.I.T). As an economic theorist, he has published widely and lectured throughout the world on his research. He is also among America’s leading critics writing on racial inequality. He has been elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economics Association, as a Member of the American Philosophical Society and of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Books:
The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (2002, Harvard University Press)

Ethnicity, Social Mobility and Public Policy: Comparing the US and the UK (Co-edited with Tariq Modood and Steven Teles; 2005, Cambridge University Press)

Author; columnist, The Observer
@kenanmalik

Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer, broadcaster and columnist for the Observer. Malik has written multiple books on race, religion, freedom of speech and morality. His new book, Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics is published by Hurst in January. He has presented Analysis, on BBC Radio 4, and Nightwaves, BBC Radio 3’s wonderful arts and ideas programme and was, for many years, a panellist on The Moral Maze, also on Radio 4. He has written and presented a number of radio and TV documentaries including Disunited Kingdom, Are Muslims Hated?, Islam, Mullahs and the Media, Skullduggery and Man, Beast and Politics.

Malik was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2010. He is a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK and was a trustee of the free speech NGO Index on Censorship.

Books:
The Meaning of Race: Race, History and Culture in Western Society (Palgrave / New York University Press, 1996)

Not So Black and White (Hurst, 2023)

Writer; Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University

@JohnHMcWhorter

John McWhorter teaches linguistics at Columbia University, as well as Western Civilization and music history. He specializes in language change and language contact, and is the author of The Missing Spanish Creoles, Language Simplicity and Complexity, and The Creole Debate. He has written extensively on issues related to linguistics, race, and other topics for Time, The New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and elsewhere, and has been a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. For the general public he is the author of The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, The Language Hoax, Words on the Move, Talking Back, Talking Black, and other books, including Nine Nasty Words and Woke Racism, both of which were New York Times bestsellers. He hosts the Lexicon Valley language podcast, has authored six audiovisual sets on language for the Great Courses company, and has written a twice-weekly newsletter for the New York Times since August 2021.

Books:
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America (2021, Faber & Faber)

Policy advisor and journalist

@MercyMuroki

Mercy Muroki is a Policy Fellow in the Cabinet Office advising the Minister for Equalities and Women on British policy around race, gender, and protected characteristics. She holds an MSc in Comparative Social Policy from Jesus College, University of Oxford and previously sat on the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in 2021. Before joining the Cabinet Office, she was a national broadcaster and columnist.

Contributing writer, New Statesman

@tomowolade

Tomiwa Owolade is a writer and critic. He has written for many publications, including the Times, the Sunday Times, the Spectator, the FT, the Evening Standard, and Literary Review. He is a contributing writer at the New Statesman. He has also appeared on BBC Radio 4. He has written on a wide range of issues, including identity politics, liberalism, social protest movements, and religion. He has a forthcoming book entitled This is Not America.

Books:
This is Not America (Forthcoming: 2023, Atlantic Books)

Businessman; Chair, Index on Censorship

@TrevorPTweets

He is the Chairman of the Green Park Group, co-founder of the data analytics firm Webber Phillips, created with Professor Richard Webber in 2014, and is a director of the AIM-listed behavioural science group Mind Gym.

He has written for several of the UK’s biggest-selling newspapers; he now contributes a fortnightly op-ed column for the Times, and periodically writes for the Sunday Times and the Sun. He was shortlisted for Comment Writer of the Year in the 2020 British Journalism Awards.

He is an award-winning TV producer and presenter, with three RTS journalism awards to his name. He has written and presented some of the most talked-about programmes of recent years, including “Things We Won’t Say About Race That Are True”, described by one newspaper reviewer as “probably amongst the most important documentaries of the decade”.

Trevor is Chairman of Index on Censorship, the international campaign group for freedom of expression.

Senior fellow, Manhattan Institute; columnist, Wall Street Journal

@jasonrileywsj

Jason Riley is an opinion columnist at The Wall Street Journal, where his column, Upward Mobility, has run since 2016. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and has appeared on the Journal Editorial Report, other Fox News programs and C-SPAN.

Riley, a 2018 Bradley Prize recipient, is the author of four books.

Books:
Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders (2008, Avery Publishing Group)

Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed (2014, Encounter Books, USA)

False Black Power? (New Threats to Freedom) (2017, Templeton Press)

Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell (2021, Basic Books)

Senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute

@IanVRowe

Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. Mr. Rowe is also the co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a new network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools opening in the Bronx in 2022; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative. He concurrently serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center and a writer for the 1776 Unites Campaign.

Books:
Agency (2022, Templeton Press)

Director, Don’t Divide Us

@ASCphiled

Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert is an educator, academic, author and campaigner who believes passionately in the essential importance of impartiality both in education and as a prerequisite for the civilised conversations necessary for democracy to flourish. Alka comes to the directorship of Don’t Divide Us (DDU) following two years as its founder lead on education. As a citizen, she felt impelled to join DDU to counter what she views as the unsubstantiated belief that Britain is a systematically racist country. As a life-long educator, she felt impelled because of the divisive effects of educational policies based on a radical re-racializing of schools in the name of anti-racism at the cost of affirming the value of truth and truthfulness.

She is a prolific author of specialist texts on education including the 2017 ‘What Should Schools Teach? Disciplines, Subjects and the Pursuit of Truth’ (IoE UCL Press). She has spoken at numerous prestigious conferences and gave evidence to the 2016 All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry (APPGI) on Knowledge and Skills in Education.

Chair, Generating Genius

Lord Tony Sewell CBE is an international expert in education, leadership, and social mobility. He is chair of the charity of the Science and Technology charity Generating Genius, which he founded in 2004. In March 2021, Dr Sewell as chair, published the findings of the government’s Race and Ethnic Disparities Commission. This has given rise to the seminal document ‘Inclusive Britain’ which is the implementation programme of the ‘Sewell Report’. He has served on the board of the Learning Trust in Hackney and was part of the team that transformed education in that borough. His latest book will be out in May 2023 called: ‘Black Success: ‘The Surprising Truth.’ He has been a regular columnist for The Voice, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, and Sunday Mirror. In 2016, he was awarded the CBE for his services to education and youth. He has recently been given a peerage to the House of Lords in recognition of his services to Education and social mobility.

Chief Leader Writer and columnist, The Observer

@soniasodha

Sonia is Chief Leader Writer and a columnist for the Observer. She is a former head of public services and consumer rights policy at Which?, the Consumers’ Association, where she led their work on public services.

Prior to this, she was a Senior Policy Adviser to Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, the Leader of the Opposition. She has also worked as Head of Policy and Strategy at the Dartington Social Research Unit and led programmes of work on public services, education, children and families at the think tanks Demos and the Institute for Public Policy Research. Sonia is also a trustee of the education charity Ambition School Leadership.