Dr Anil Awesti
Dr Anil Awesti
Associate Professor and Senior Tutor
+44 (0) 24 7652 8459
Room WCE 0.11, Centre for Lifelong Learning, Westwood Campus
Dr. Anil Awesti is an Associate Professor and Senior Tutor in the Centre for Lifelong Learning. His research and practice are in the field of inclusive education, in particular analysing and working to make higher education a more socially just space for students from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds. He has published and presented on anti-racism and lifelong learning in HE.
Since 2019, Anil has led the development and delivery of Warwick’s first anti-racism staff development programme, Tackling Racial Inequality at Warwick (TRIW - https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/academic-development/tri/). The programme provides staff with the tools to recognise and tackle racial inequalities in the HE sector and at Warwick and, as a result, improve the student (learning) experience of students of colour. His work on TRIW has been explicitly recognised by the University’s Education Executive as contributing to Warwick achieving its TEF gold award (2023), as well as being Commended in the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence Collaborative category (2022) and runner-up in the Warwick Social Inclusion Staff Award (2022).
Anil provides strategic leadership to Warwick's anti-racism work. He co-established and chaired (2018-22) the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Process in HE Learning Circle (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/academy/activities/learningcircles/anti-racistpedagogyandprocess) as a means of informing institutional deliberations on the experiences and attainment of Warwick students of colour, as it relates to teaching and learning, and the creation of institution-wide inclusive education through the engagement and practice of anti-racism. Anil also chaired the University’s Race Equality Taskforce (2019-23) and, in doing so, provided strategic oversight of Warwick’s successful submission to the Race Equality Charter in 2022 (Bronze Award).
The reach of Anil's endeavours to improve the learning experience of students of colour in HE is furthered by his work in advising other HE institutions on anti-racist teaching and learning approaches, both within the UK and internationally.
In his role as CLL Senior Tutor, Anil leads on the pastoral and academic-related needs of the department's diverse student body. He developed a programme to support the CLL’s mature students in order to ensure a positive learner experience across their student lifecycle. The programme of support proved particularly significant during and after the COVID-19 period due to the impact of the pandemic on adult learners and their families and ensured many were able to progress and complete their studies. The importance of this programme has been explicitly praised in quality assurance reviews of the CLL. At the institutional-level, Anil has worked with the Dean of Students’ Office to co-develop the university’s personal tutor guidance for supporting student-carers (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dean-of-students-office/personaltutors/training/studentcarers/).
Anil is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and is currently working on his Principal Fellow (PFHEA) submission. He is an Alumni Fellow of WIHEA (including being a member of the WIHEA Advisory Group, 2019-20) and Honorary Fellow of the Warwick Institute for Engagement (WIE).
Immediately prior to joining the CLL, he was the Widening Participation Officer/Researcher for Warwick’s School of Law, where he established the department's first recruitment and retention programme, and Chair of the UK Political Studies Association’s Diversity & Equality Committee.
Anil completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Warwick’s Department for Politics and International Studies (PAIS). His doctoral research analysed the role of the European Union in tackling socio-economic inequalities.
PhD Supervision
Potential PhD candidates are welcome to contact regarding research proposals related to one or more of the following topics:
- The relationship between higher education and social justice.
- Widening participation policies and practices in higher education (access, support and progression).
- Adult education and lifelong learning.
- Attainment and experiences of students of colour in higher education.
Selected Publications, Papers and Guest Talks
2024: ‘An Anti-Racist Pedagogy Approach to Staff Training in Higher Education.’ Black Lives Matter International Conference, Universite Paul Valery Montpellier (with L. Plath).
2023: ‘Reimagining Lifelong Learning in Higher Education’, Education Sciences 13:11 (with N. James).
2023: ‘Learning in its Broadest Sense: Resistance and Resilience.’ University Association for Lifelong Learning Annual Conference, University of Cambridge (with N. James).
2023: ‘The Warwick Experience of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff.’ Warwick Inclusion Conference, University of Warwick.
2022: ‘An Anti-Racist Pedagogy Approach to Staff Training.’ Advance HE Decolonising Pedagogies, online.
2021: ‘Why should we embed Race Equality in all curricula? Decolonising the curriculum.’ Advance HE Teaching & Learning Annual Conference, online.
2021: ‘Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Practice in HE.’ Advance HE ED&I Conference, online.
2019: ‘Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Practice Learning Circle.’ Race Equity through Pedagogy Conference, Sheffield Hallam University (with M. Ono-George).
2019: ‘A lifecycle approach to widening participation: student success and progression.’ Warwick Education Conference (with C. Jones).
2019: ‘Post-truth politics and public trust: how can universities regain legitimacy in the public sphere?’ Association for Academic Outreach Annual Conference, University of Warwick.
2018: ‘Teaching Brexit in ‘Brexitland.’’ European Conference on Teaching and Learning Politics, International Relations and European Studies, Charles University Prague.
2018: ‘Public Engagement for Social Healing.’ University Association of Lifelong Learning Annual Conference, University of Cambridge.
2018: ‘Brexit - Where Are We and Where Are We Going?’ Cambridge Skeptics, Cambridge.
2017: ‘Why Brexit & Trump, and what’s next?’ United Nations Association Coventry.
2016: ‘Pursuing the Diversity and Inclusion agenda: The PSA in the UK’. European Political Science, Vol. 15, No. 4 (with M. Flinders and H. Savigny).
2016: ‘What does the EU do and what relationship can post-Brexit Britain have with it?’ Lacuna Magazine.
2016: ‘To Brexit or not to Brexit…?’ Coventry Skeptics in the Pub, Coventry.
2016: ‘Diversity and Equality: a 10 year strategic plan for the PSA.’ Political Studies Association 66th Annual International Conference, Brighton.