Following the death of George Floyd in the USA, the movement driven by the pressing question ‘why is my curriculum white’ was reignited. Student and public protests followed around the world and in the UK, Universities responded with a recognition of the need for further work in social justice, diversity and inclusion (Advance HE, 2021). The University of Leeds, similar to other universities (e.g. UCL and SOAS in London) initiated a programme to decolonise education. This project is a journey which demands that educators willingly question the origins of the knowledge they teach and identify the colonial legacies that are replicated within curriculum and pedagogy, as well as wider university structures and practices (https://studenteddev.leeds.ac.uk/developing-practice/decolonising/). Student and staff co-production of education as well as student voice are central to this journey. Educational research is one way we can collect this student voice and engage students in devising strategies and solutions for reform where this is needed. More specifically, research that illuminates the lived experiences and critical insights exemplified by those who have been silenced or ‘othered’ by these colonial legacies can support be understood as compassionate research. Here I am using ‘compassionate’ as described by Gabor Mate (2022) as ‘the compassion of curiosity and understanding’ which is based on the belief that there is a reason behind the ways people behave. It is driven by a desire to understand someone’s context and source of pain that could be behind the outcomes observed. Compassionate research, I argue, would engage in questions of curiosity and understanding. While this does not necessitate qualitative methods, such methods are well-suited to interpretivist and subjectivist paradigms (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). The argument presented in this paper is that a) the decolonising project involves educators having opportunities to critical analyse and reflect on their discipline, and b) one way to prompt this critical analysis is presenting data which explores the reasons behind some observed inequality.

The observed inequality considered in this project is the under-representation of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) graduates in academic posts which tend to require post-graduate study (see https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/375735/ERI_Ethnic-Representation-Index.pdf). This Ignite presentation will share the coding framework used to analyse data collected through focus groups with recent undergraduate graduates from one University in the North of England. The framework is used to explore the potential for applying colonial theories in a critical analysis of the factors influencing BAME graduates’ academic career considerations.

Reasons for this racial and ethnic disparity may relate to practical reasons that the academic track is not appealing. Or one might simply argue that the pathway is not of interest and other options presented themselves. This project, however, explores specifically the ways in which racial ideology may be considered a mechanism behind these patterns (van dijk, 1998). This ideology emerged as a tool of colonial powers, separating ‘us’ and ‘them’ (Bhabha, 1984) and has implicitly shaped various structures, policies and practices within higher education and the various disciplines represented therein. The project therefore explores BAME student perceptions and experiences of various structures, policies and practices in HE and explores ways this could implicitly inform post-graduation education and career decision-making. As post-graduate study typically involves research, this project will ask critical questions about how knowledge is constructed and the explore traces left by colonial legacies on the meaning and practice of research. The project proposes that such colonial legacies may be implicit barriers to the pursuit of an academic path.

The study will involve two focus group interviews conducted by a student researcher as a form of peer-to-peer research. Participants will be recruited on the basis of their identification with a black or minority ethnic group and an expressed disinterest in research and/or an academic career. One group interviewed will be recent graduates of the medical programme, the MBChB, providing insights into perceptions of medical science and research but also academic careers within this discipline. Another discipline that will be chosen for comparison and exploration of another context. The project will be limited to two programmes so that in-depth analysis can be contextualised to a particular discipline (e.g. Medicine, Health, Geography or Engineering). The data will be analysed thematically using deductive codes derived from colonial theory (Mignolo, 2009). Colonial legacies are theorised to influence decision-making using the concept of authenticity (Mate, 2022). In other words, graduates may not choose academic pathways because prior experiences as a student felt inauthentic and implicitly would not align with the self. Analysis will then explore ways that any structures, policies and practices mentioned in the data collected could be reflecting colonial traces.

The project will provide insight into perceptions of research and offer these insights as prompts or potential ‘mirror data’ (Engestrom and Sannino, 2011) for Higher Education institutions to use in holding and analysing critical discussions around reasons why and how we might decolonise education. The project will lay the foundation for further research identifying the ways our colonial legacies are influencing engagement in post-graduate education, in other disciplines. The data and analysis will be useful in future research projects which explore opportunities for decolonising with staff and students.

Advance HE, 2021 Black Lives Matter and the student voice. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/narrowingthegaps/files/2021/07/Advance-HE-BLM-and-the-student-voice-June-2021.pdf Bhabha H. (1984) Of mimicry and man: the ambivalence of colonial discourse. October;28:125–33. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Engestrom, Y and Sannino, A. (2011). Discursive manifestations of contradictions in organizational change efforts: A methodological framework. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 24 (3), 368-387. Mignolo WD. (2009) Epistemic disobedience, independent thought and decolonial freedom. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(7-8):159-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275 Mate, G (2022). The Myth of the Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Vermillion, van dijk, T. (1998) Ideology: A multidisciplinary framework. Sage.