Celebrating Black female academics
A trailblazing academic joined people across the University to celebrate the Leeds 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme.
Organised by Dr Kendi Guantai, Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), it brought together members from its four cohorts, including Professor Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso in the School of Biology, to share their experiences with Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Hai-Sui Yu.
The event was an opportunity for participants to provide insight into how Leeds can continue to create more inclusive structures and systems for equity.
It’s brought us together as a community. This was crucial for me as there are so few Black academics in my field and you can feel so isolated.
Professor Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso, an expert in plant, cell and molecular biology and champion of equity, diversity and inclusion in research and education, recently earned a senior promotion after joining the programme.
Her lab aims to reveal the molecular factors which regulate plant development and their response to the environment, with the aim of steering strategies to improve crop production, develop sustainable biomaterials and overcome food insecurity in light of climate change.
The interdisciplinary nature of her research has seen her collaborate with the School of Physics and Astronomy, the Bragg Centre for Materials Research and the Global Food and Environment Institute (GFEI) at Leeds.
She’s also passionate about supporting Black scientists, having co-founded the Black in Plant Science network.
Equity and diversity in research and education foster richer insights, drive innovation, and lead to discoveries that benefit everyone.
About 100 Black Women Professors NOW
The 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme is aimed at increasing the number of Black women in the academic pipeline.
Since it’s launch in 2021, the number of Black women professors has more than doubled.
The programme requires participating higher education institutions to identify internal systemic barriers that hinder their progression.
As such, line managers of each cohort, as well as senior leadership executives, take part in the programme to better understand and effectively tackle both sector-wide and internal issues, such as barriers to promotion and policies that can maintain the status quo and create unsafe work environments - not just for Black women but for all minoritised ethnic/global majority staff.
In joining the programme in 2021, the University not only took on the challenge of addressing systemic barriers, but also made resource commitments in support of the professional development of its Black women academics taking part in the programme.
For instance, participants had the opportunity to apply for a Research Culture grant, which they used to uplift their research activities, including travel and participation in professional events and conferences.
Meet the Leeds 100 Black Women Professors
Discover the invaluable contributions Black academic women make at the University of Leeds by visiting Research Journeys: 100 Black Women Professor NOW
