Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Social Sciences
Abstract
The ESRC Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) was first established in 2013 and is the leading research group focused on understanding racial and ethnic inequalities in the UK, producing mixed-method, empirically grounded, policy-relevant and high impact research. CoDE's work has been central in demonstrating both continuity and change in racial and ethnic inequality over time, in understanding the heterogeneity and commonalities of racially and ethnically minoritised people's experiences, and in examining the multiple inter-related dimensions of both identity and inequality (gender, class, sexuality, religion, migration etc.). Since August 2020, CoDE has been engaged in a programme of rapid response work which examines the impact of Covid19 on racially minoritised communities, taking a comprehensive view of the inter-related dimensions of health, education, housing, employment, policing, older people and the resilience and activism of communities themselves.
Central to CoDE's work has been close and collaborative working with a range of government, voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as trade unions and campaign groups at local, regional and national scales. This has encompassed a wide range of activities and partnerships, including: collaborative research design; two-way consultation; evidence sharing; co-production of resources, such as videos and graphic novels; publications and bespoke reports; presentations and workshops; and a range of other activities.
Legacy Centre Status will allow CoDE to continue its impactful programme of work. We will:
1) Deepen our relationships with non-academic organisations, particularly those in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. These organisations have limited capacity, and in the current policy context would like to do more to engage further with research and data. This will involve collaborative workshops, co-production of resources and capacity building within our partner organisations.
2) Ensure the continued development of high-quality critical researchers in the areas of race and ethnicity by strengthening our Early Career Network. This will continue CoDE's collaborative cross-institutional and inter-disciplinary ethos and develop it into the future. Driven by the needs of members, network activities will provide focused research workshops on substantive questions within race and ethnicity, as well as sessions on impact and engagement, career development and a mentoring scheme.
3) Maintain and develop our suite of media and public engagement resources, providing a hub for CoDE researchers and associates to continue to communicate their research findings and work towards achieving policy and practice impact. CoDE's research will continue to be communicated to policy makers and the public in order to increase understanding of the complexities in the production and maintenance of ethnic inequalities.
Central to CoDE's work has been close and collaborative working with a range of government, voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as trade unions and campaign groups at local, regional and national scales. This has encompassed a wide range of activities and partnerships, including: collaborative research design; two-way consultation; evidence sharing; co-production of resources, such as videos and graphic novels; publications and bespoke reports; presentations and workshops; and a range of other activities.
Legacy Centre Status will allow CoDE to continue its impactful programme of work. We will:
1) Deepen our relationships with non-academic organisations, particularly those in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. These organisations have limited capacity, and in the current policy context would like to do more to engage further with research and data. This will involve collaborative workshops, co-production of resources and capacity building within our partner organisations.
2) Ensure the continued development of high-quality critical researchers in the areas of race and ethnicity by strengthening our Early Career Network. This will continue CoDE's collaborative cross-institutional and inter-disciplinary ethos and develop it into the future. Driven by the needs of members, network activities will provide focused research workshops on substantive questions within race and ethnicity, as well as sessions on impact and engagement, career development and a mentoring scheme.
3) Maintain and develop our suite of media and public engagement resources, providing a hub for CoDE researchers and associates to continue to communicate their research findings and work towards achieving policy and practice impact. CoDE's research will continue to be communicated to policy makers and the public in order to increase understanding of the complexities in the production and maintenance of ethnic inequalities.
Publications
Begum N
(2024)
Ticking Two Boxes, Fighting Two Battles: Intersectional Experiences of Ethnic Minority Women Councillors in UK Local Government
in Politics & Gender
Connelly L
(2024)
The construction of "criminal outsiders": security services and whitening-securitization in higher education
in Ethnic and Racial Studies
Irizar P
(2025)
Associations between experiences of racial discrimination across the life course and mental health: Exploring direct and indirect pathways
in Sociology of Health and Illness
Sean Carey
(2025)
Chagos drama spans continents as Mauritius pushes UK for more
| Description | The purpose of this award was to work with non-academic organisations in engaging with prior research conducted by CoDE (Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity) and to build the capacity of critical researchers in the areas of race and ethnicity through our Race Scholars Early Career Network as well as communicate research conducted by CoDE to the public. This will be elaborated under the narrative impact. |
| Exploitation Route | There are lessons to be learnt in terms of supporting non-academic users to engage with research and to support the capacity of Early Career Researchers in the areas of race research and others. |
| Sectors | Education Government Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.ethnicity.ac.uk |
| Description | One part of this research was to work closely with non-academic partner organisations to help them engage with the EVENS (Evidence for Equality National Survey) in ways which were useful to them. To this end, we have worked with BEMIS (the umbrella organisation supporting ethnic minority voluntary sector in Scotland) to produce a joint report 'Racism, Covid and Belonging in Scotland' which was launched in December 2024 and received extensive press coverage. We have worked with Friends Family and Travelers organisation on a joint report and provided data and advice on data and statistics to the Muslim Council of Britain and to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. These relationships are ongoing. We have also released a teaching dataset of EVENS and had several, well-attended workshops demonstrating how to use the dataset. We have also written a report with the Church of England on the census data on ethnic minority Christian population in England and Wales and provided advice to local government, the NHS and the Covid Inquiry. We also have a network of more than 500 early career scholars who meet regularly on-line (monthly) and in person (3 times a year) to assist in career development and support their capacity to do high quality impact and research. We continue to expand public understandings of scholarship on race through public events, and more recently public assemblies in partnership with the Esmee Fairbairn foundation and with local activists and voluntary sector organisations across the UK. Our output includes social media, print media, videos, reports, blogs and videos. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Bristol Public Assembly |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Black South West Network have now convened their own meeting to follow up on what was suggested |
| Description | Inclusive Survey Futures |
| Amount | £298,209 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2024 |
| End | 01/2026 |
| Description | Race and Ethnicity Early Career Scholars network |
| Amount | £65,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Title | EVENS DATASET |
| Description | The EVENS survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey to document the lives of ethnic and religious minorities in Britain during the pandemic. Data collection took place between February and November 2021. EVENS has a sample of 14,200 participants, of whom 9,700 identify as members of ethnic and religious minority groups, uniquely allowing comparative analyses of their experiences. A number of distinctive features make EVENS a uniquely useful source for understanding contemporary ethnic inequalities: recognition and representation of more ethnic minority groups; larger samples of ethnic minority groups; use and development of innovative and robust survey methods; working in partnership with ethnic minority communities to ensure the relevance and quality of the data. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Racism and Ethnic Inequality in a Time of Crisis: Findings from the Evidence for Equality National Survey. https://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/research/projects/evens/code-research-projects-evens-publications/code-research-projects-evens-book/ |
| URL | https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=9116 |
| Description | Caribbean & African Health Network Dissemination Activities |
| Organisation | African and Caribbean Network |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Members of the research team helped distribute lay summary report to the network |
| Collaborator Contribution | Creation of a report |
| Impact | Dissemination activities (distributing lay summary report to network) |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Greater Manchester Good Landlords Charter |
| Organisation | Greater Manchester Combined Authority |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Participation in expert group |
| Collaborator Contribution | Participation from GMCA, social housing providers, private landlord organisations, UoM accommodation team |
| Impact | Consultation Document |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Greater Manchester Race Equality |
| Organisation | Greater Manchester Combined Authority |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Facilitating and documenting workshops |
| Collaborator Contribution | Participation at workshops (2*50+ people), leadership group including cabinet member and executive director from 10 councils, GMCA officers |
| Impact | Report on PURE on Race Equality in Greater Manchester, intermediate documents |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Race Equality Foundation |
| Organisation | Race Equality Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to research on Caribbean population in Manchester, draft reports on demography of ethnic minority population in England |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to data sets |
| Impact | Still in progress |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | UK-REACH |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am a co-author on 2 publications with researchers at the University of Leicester, and I am working on an additional first-author paper to investigate ethnic inequalities in alcohol use and mental health among healthcare workers, using UK-REACH data. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Researchers at the University of Leicester have provided access to their UK-REACH dataset. I am a co-author on 2 papers that are being led by researchers at the University of Leicester and I am leading 1 paper. |
| Impact | 2 research papers have been released as a result of the partnership (doi:10.1192/bjo.2023.520; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043242), staying within a discipline. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | BBC1 Scotland Interview - The Nine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Media coverage relating to Racism in Scotland Report |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | ECR Network Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was an in-person meeting of the CoDE ECR Race Scholar Network. With a workshop on writing by Professor Gary Younge and a 'world cafe' to facilitate discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ECR Network meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was an inperson meeting of the CoDE ECR Race Scholar Network, with a presentation from Professor Camara Jones and a discussion of career progression in academia |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | EVENSinACTION |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Contribution to report by Institute of Jewish Policy and Research, other work in progress |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Interviewed for the UK Data Service Podcast: 'Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talking in a podcast which aims to throws a light on how the pioneering Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) was conducted, its initial findings on ethnic and religious inequalities and what researchers, students and policy-makers will gain from the new data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/2023/05/31/exclusive-podcast-delivers-the-early-insights-of-ground-break... |
| Description | Invited Public Lecture on Jewish Identities and experiences of racism |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this lecture, Professor Finney considers how Jewish people articulate their Jewish identity and how well this sense of Jewishness is captured by statistical categorisations used as standard in Britain. She then compares discrimination experienced by Jewish people to other religious and ethnic groups, opening discussion about what might (or might not) be distinctive about contemporary Jewish experiences of racism. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://bisa.bbk.ac.uk/event/contemporary-jewish-identities-and-experiences-of-racism-what-can-we-le... |
| Description | Media Engagement Related to Paper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with BBC Scotland TV and radio and That's TV Scotland about ethnic inequaliaties in COVID-19 among White Gypsy, African and Pakistan groups in Scotland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Monthly Musings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This is a monthly on-line meeting for members of the CoDE Race Scholar Network which gives them the opportunity to discuss current events which are relevant to their research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023,2024 |
| Description | Presentation for UK Data Service |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A collaborative talk with the UK data service that was an introduction to the Evidence for Equality National Survey. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation on the summer riots of 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Panel presentation at the University of Manchester to invited audience of local policy makers, professionals and VCSE members. Was discussion afterwards, resulted in a collaboration with Manchester City Council on Gendered Islamophobia and also a collaboration with a local Building Bridges Project in South Manchester. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Public Assembly - Birmingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public assembly in Birmingham, co-organised with local organisations to improve understanding of racialised experience of in Birmingham and foster inter-generational dialogue |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Public Assembly - Glasgow |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public assembly on the subject of racism within Glasgow organised with local organisations, to improve public debate and understanding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Public Assembly Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public assembly on racial inequalities in the city of Nottingham, organised with local activists and organisations to enrich debate on race in the city. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Scotland Race Equality Network Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Scotland Race Equality Network Meeting, Glasgow, December 2024 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Teaching with the EVENS dataset - UK Data Service |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An online webinar teaching others how to teach with the EVENS dataset |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | The Guardian (Exclusive): 'Britain 'not close to being a racially just society', finds two-year research project' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Contribute to a national newspaper to give evidence on how racism is still prevalent in the UK with the intention of education |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/09/britain-not-close-to-being-a-racially-just-society-fin... |