July 2022 Newsletter

To celebrate our twentieth anniversary the trust organized a reception and discussion, held at Birkbeck on 17th May. The event was attended by Bonnart scholars past and present, academic staff, trustees and friends and supporters of the trust.

How does research get translated into action?

Freddie Bonnart established his trust to support research by postgraduate scholars. What particularly interested him was what we now call “impact”; in other words how research makes a difference in the wider world. In his words: “…it is the subsequent action that is the essential part”. What that “subsequent action” might consist of, and how to make it happen was the theme of the evening’s discussion.

Presentations

Keiran Goddard, one of our trustees, introduced the speakers and chaired the subsequent discussion. The evening began with presentations from two academic researchers and two “users” of research.

- Radha Chakraborty, chair of the Bell Foundation, spoke about how Bell had based its programmes on high quality commissioned research, and how that had given it purchase in national policy discussions.

- Alison Blunt, Deputy Vice Principal for Impact at Queen Mary University of London, talked about the important role research plays in her university’s local and national relationships.

- Will Stronge outlined his work as Director of Autonomy, a think tank, and how they had forged networks and partnerships between researchers, policy makers and the media.

- Brendan McGeever, from Birkbeck, described how he engaged students in discussing the effects of research. He raised the question of values and how they are inextricably a part of any research agenda.

Discussion

In the discussion that followed a number of key themes emerged:

Impact is often thought of as the direct and traceable influence that a piece of research has on some subsequent change to policy or to practice. Important though that is, many participants were looking for a wider meaning, and the discussion illustrated the many different ways in which research could influence thinking and action, from the individual, through local communities, to the national stage. Alison, for example, drew attention to the link between teaching and research, and to the fundamental characteristic of universities, where teaching is done by staff who are themselves researchers. That on its own provides an enduring conduit by which research thinking enters the wider community.

Similarly, the engagement of universities with local civic communities was an important mechanism. Whether through mainstream communication and dissemination, including the (much reduced) provision of adult education classes, or through joint projects with local groups, such engagement was an important but often overlooked mechanism by which the fruits of research entered public thinking.

Brendan’s comments on the question of values also led to a lively debate. Accepting that social science research can never be value free leads to complex questions about how existing value positions can be characterised and made explicit. And if the purpose of research is to support change in a particular direction, as it is for the Bonnart Trust, what influence might that have on methodologies, and on the interpretation and communication of findings?

All of these issues have salience for our programme. While it is unlikely that a student’s project will on its own bring about policy change, Bonnart students are active in their local communities and bring with them their developing understanding of research in their own field and others. The discussion raised interesting questions about the nature of postgraduate education, about the extent to which students should be encouraged to reflect on the impact of their research, and whether training in media and other forms of public communication should be part of the student experience.

Anthony Tomei, chairman.

March 2022 Newsletter

With no family of his own Bonnart determined his own legacy; a series of grants for students — the Bonnart-Braunthal Scholarship — aimed at tackling the causes and consequences of intolerance.

Freddy explained the purpose of the Trust: "It is my purpose for this Trust to represent my own mark, however humble, on the future of society, As I have no family or direct heirs who might have carried on my ideas, it is the vehicle by which my ideals are to be propagated. That is why I wish my successors, as Trustees and Chairman, to ensure that this concept remains the fundamental basis of this Trust in perpetuity.

The concept is expressed in action to achieve the aim of the Trust of combating racial, religious and cultural intolerance. I have chosen the academic route to provide the necessary intellectual rigour and discipline, but it is the initiation of subsequent action which is its essential part. For this reason I have taken a very close personal hand in the selection of candidates, and ensured that the relevance of their proposed thesis to this aim was a precondition thereof. This activity is to be continued; it means a personal contact with incumbents at least once during their studies, and insistence on the scholarship requirement of their final report which should show the action towards achieving the Trust aims evolving from their studies."

March 2022 Newsletter

How did you become a Bonnart Trust Trustee?

"Little did I know, when I was offered the first Bonnart scholarship, what kind of impact it would have on my life! I had the luck and privilege of meeting Frederick Bonnart in person as I was awarded the first ever instalment of the scholarship – that was the beginning of many exquisite encounters with Freddy. He wanted to get to know his scholars personally and throughout my academic career he was a great supporter of my research. After Freddy sadly passed away, the then Chair of the Bonnart Trust offered me to become a Trustee – I didn’t have to think about it twice – I was delighted to be able to give Freddy something back by supporting his cause. And that’s where I still am."

What is your current role? As a former Bonnart Trust scholar, how has it impacted on your current role?

"I currently support the Trust with advice on its strategy going forward. I like to think that having been a scholar myself has helped me forge good relationships with some of the other scholars. Being able to understand the needs of PhD students has also been useful to shape some of the policies of the scholarship."

What are you proud of as a Bonnart Trust Trustee?

"I am most proud when I see the work of the scholars change the world for the better and when I see how dedicated our scholars are to the cause."

March 2022 Newsletter

What impact has the Bonnart Trust had on your life/your studies?

"The Bonnart Trust provided me with the time and space needed to research, understand and reflect on the various ways in which discrimination works through the built environment. The Trust granted me time and space that allowed me to immerse myself within the life-worlds of indigenous communities forced out of their forests - either side of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide - and who have been forcibly, resettled and rehoused against their will."

What has inspired you to produce your film called Uppland?

"The film Uppland was inspired by a series of visits to a modernist new town called Yekepa, in Northern Liberia, a new town designed and built by Swedish American mining firm called LAMCO and that today is run by Arcelor Mittal, the global producer of structural steel. This film also came out of a chance meeting with filmmaker, Edward Lawrenson and Edward and I travelled to Yekepa in 2016, it was here that we met the indigenous communities who live on the margins of the new town and who today continue to be denied equal rights of access to the landscape, to housing and rights to the profits remaining."

What is your current role? As a former Bonnart Trust scholar, how has it impacted on your current role?

"I'm currently a lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism at the School of Architecture, within the University of Edinburgh. I teach architectural design studios and deliver seminars that teach students how to critically engage with understandings of the built environment, particularly how development, or new development, produces environmental and social unevenness in our cities. The way in which I teach has been inspired by the Trust and that is to provide a safe space to discuss the experiences of discrimination and to shed light on particular blind spots within architectural education, and the architectural profession more broadly."

December 2021 Newsletter

Earlier this year, I was invited by the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge to contribute to the ESRC project 'Secondary Education and Social Change in the United Kingdom since 1945' (SESC). This ensued from an earlier contribution I made to a roundtable at NACBS 2020.

As part of this project, I recorded a video to be used as a learning resource in schools at the Key Stage 3 level. Using source materials derived from my PhD research, I concentrated on the experience of South Asian children, who were bussed to other schools in West London in the 1970s. I contextualised how race mediated the experience of schooling in 1970s Britain. The videos will be accompanied by a learning resource pack designed by history teacher consultants on the project. All those resources will be available on the SESC website and the Historical Association website.

My video and others in the project are available to view on the University of Cambridge SESC website.