Warwick Law School's Professor Jane Bryan, creator of the 'Say My Name' project here at Warwick, has collaborated with Brentford FC to create their own name campaign as part of Premier League's No Room for Racism week held during Black History Month.

Professor Bryan has been working with the Premier League to share the importance of names and correct name use for some time now. However, following a graduation speech on the football club’s current inclusion projects given by Kaammini Chanrai, the Equality and Inclusion Director for Brentford FC, Jane reached out to them directly to see if they would be interested in hearing more about the Say My Name project and how they could potentially work together to create change.

The connection grew from there and Jane was delighted to support them in creating their own name campaign for the Premier League’s No Room for Racism Week. After several meetings with their E&I and communications teams, where they discussed initial research and how to develop their campaign, Jane shared the Say My Name resources so they could be adapted for their purpose.

Brentford used Jane’s ideas around the importance of names and the negative impact of routine name misuse (avoidance/mispronunciation) on inclusion and visibility to underpin their activities around names. They also used her prompts to create talking points for the fans, adding to previous initiatives the club have implemented to try and build community.

During their home fixture against Ipswich Town on Saturday 26 October, Brentford highlighted the importance of names in creating inclusive and respectful communities, supporting the Say My Name project, as part of the wider Premier League’s No Room for Racism campaign.

Brentford players wore warm up shirts ahead of kick-off on matchday highlighting the phonetic spelling of their names on their backs. These names were also shared on big screens inside the stadium, as well as graphics encouraging fans to share name pronunciations and stories with each other. Whilst club ambassador Marcus Gayle was interviewed pitch side about Black History Month and discussed the Say My Name activity and its importance in creating inclusive environments. The campaign was also shared across their social media channels, reaching an even wider audience.

And their engagement with the Say My Name project didn’t stop there. Marcus Gayle alongside former player Marcus Bean, delivered a Black History Month panel session to staff, where respectful interactions around names and inclusivity was discussed.

When asked about the collaboration, Jane shared: “I am delighted to see Brentford taking my academic research and using it to create something so exciting and relevant to the players and the fans about the importance of respecting names.”

If you would like to learn more, please visit the Say My Name webpages.

Find out more about No Room for Racism and how Brentford supports the Say My Name project here.

Professor Kate Astbury (SMLC) has been co-producing research with arts and heritage organisation SV2G (St Vincent and the Grenadines Second Generation) for 3 years now, thanks to funding from the Warwick Institute of Engagement. When St Paul’s Cathedral contacted Kate about finding a community group to develop community-assisted curations of monuments related to the British involvement in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, she approached SV2G to see if they would like to be involved. Between October 2023 and April 2024, SV2G members worked with Cathedral staff, Kate and her PhD student Abigail Coppins, as well as historians David Lambert, Désha Osborne and Kristy Warren to centre the Caribbean voice in the Revolutionary Wars. SV2G members spent time in the Cathedral library and in the National Archives as part of their research into the history of the Windward Islands in the late 18th century. The story of the Revolutionaries captured and taken to Portchester Castle forms an important part of the trail and firmly links this project to our previous work collaboration work together.

The trail was launched on 6^th October 2024 and can also be seen online here.

In the run up to the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic games, 63 Coventry primary, secondary and special educational needs schools participated in a torch relay, the Flame of Friendship, leaving Coventry Cathedral on Thursday 22nd February and finishing on the University of Warwick campus on Monday 8th July. Here are some hilights of the race:

• 3,720 pupils took part in the relay.
• 40 schools visited Warwick for the finale
• At the finale we had just over 700 teachers and pupils in attendance and 490 individuals access the live stream with a number of those being whole classes/schools watching in their classrooms/halls).
• An accompanying activity book was produced whih had 14 challenges each linked to a child-friendly description of a piece or area of UoW research.
• 15,600 books will be delivered to Coventry school pupils next week.

The BBC did live coverage of the event, which can be found here. A special thanks goes to Kerry Baker, WIE Associate Director and Rebecca Bollands from Earlsdon Primary School who were the masterminds behind this unifying project.

"Such an experience. Enthusiastic students. More please"

On Saturday 25th November, 33 Warwick undergraduates participated in the Resonate Roadshow to share their URSS research projects with members of the public. The event took place in a vacant shop unit in Royal Priors shopping centre in Leamington Spa and 165 people visited over the course of the day.

The students attended masterclasses and support sessions arranged by WIE to help them prepare hands-on activities and posters to engage with people about their research. Congratulations to everyone involved!

See photos and read visitors’ feedback about the event.