Prof. Hakim Adi is an award-winning historian. He was the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain when he was appointed Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester in 2015. In 2018 he launched the world’s first online MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora which trained many students including six currently engaged in PhD research. In August 2023 the University of Chichester suspended all recruitment to the MRes and terminated Hakim’s employment. He is the author of many books on the history of Africa and the African diaspora. His latest publication is Africa and Caribbean People in Britain: A History (Allen Lane, 2023) which was shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize in September 2023.

A.S. Francis is a PhD student at the University of Chichester, researching women’s involvements in Britain’s Black radical organisations during the 1960s-1980s, and the development of a Black women’s movement. In addition to this PhD research, Francis has recently published Gerlin Bean: Mother of the Movement (Lawrence Wishart 2023), celebrating the longstanding and far-reaching activism of Gerlin Bean. Francis is also a consultant to the Young Historians Project, member of the History Matters collective and co-founder of the History Matters Journal.

The event is free to attend but we encourage members to make a donation to the campaign, which will help to pay for legal costs to challenge the University of Chichester’s decision to cancel the MRes and make Prof Adi redundant.