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On 18 June 2025, the Education Studies Seminar series and the Doctoral Education and Academia Research (DEAR) Centre co-hosted a thought-provoking event featuring two presentations that engaged with questions of social justice in research infrastructures and public scholarship.

The first presentation, titled “Research Leaders or Institutional Mischief Makers? Exploring Research Centre Founders’ Narratives,” was delivered by Professor Emily F. Henderson, Dr James Burford, and Anna Numa Hopkins. Drawing on the 2024 Heart of ResearchLink opens in a new window project conducted at the DEAR Centre, the presentation explored the formation and leadership of education research centres with a social justice orientation. It examined the tensions between institutional expectations and critical academic leadership, raising questions about whether research leaders operate within or disrupt institutional logics.

The second presentation, “Contributions of Public Scholarship to Anti-Racism: The Social Life of Evidence in the ‘Changing Lives’ Study,” was delivered by Anna Numa Hopkins, PhD researcher and DEAR Collective member. Based on a longitudinal study of racism experienced by minoritised communities in England and Wales, Anna explored how evidence about racism is constructed, circulated, and emotionally charged—highlighting tensions between recognition and redistribution in anti-racist research.

Together, the session invited critical reflection on how scholars navigate and shape the politics of knowledge, both within institutions and in public discourse.