Conference Speakers

Dr Richard Majors, is currently the Director of the Applied Centre of Emotional Literacy Leadership and Research and Director of Innovation at Wolverhampton college. Dr Richard Majors is a former visiting Leverhulme scholar at Manchester University. He is also an educational psychologist, he is involved in conducting research and workshops in the area of emotional literacy, social inclusion and managing difficult behaviours in various schools and colleges. Dr Majors has also carried out extensive research in the USA and the UK on race, class and gender. He is founder of the Journal of African American Studies (formerly, the Journal of African American Men). A former Harvard Medical School Clinical fellow, Dr Majors has met with members of the Clinton Administration to discuss youth policy and his work on males and race in the US was submitted by the publisher for a Pulitzer Prize. Within the UK, he has been involved with the Government on a range of initiatives and was a member of the Ministerial Educational Task Force on Social Inclusion. Dr Majors has written a number of books on the black male. His book Coolpose, was a bestseller and is one of the most cited books in USA literature on race and gender. His most recent book is Educating our Black Children: New Directions and Radical Approaches, Routledge/Flamer 2001.

Professor Heidi Safia Mirza, Professor of Equalities Studies in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, where she is Director of the Centre for Rights Equalities and Social Justice. Heidi is known internationally for her work on ethnicity, gender and identity in education with best selling books such as Young, Female, and Black; Black British Feminism; and Race Gender and Educational Desire (all Routledge). She is also co-author of Tackling the roots of racism : Lessons for Success (Policy Press) She served as a Commissioner on the GLA Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage and established the Runnymede Collection at Middlesex University, a race-relations archive and library documenting the late 20th century civil rights struggle for a multicultural Britain. Heidi serves on the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on National Records and Archives.

Professor Augustine John is the Chief Executive of the Gus John Partnership Limited and has been active in promoting Racial Equality and Social Justice in Britain. since 1965. He is author of Taking A Stand – Gus John Speaks on education, race, social action and civil unrest 1980 - 2005. Professor John is also a Fellow of the Revans Institute, University of Salford.