Black History Month Lecture given by Professor Uzo Iwobi

Overcoming barriers and achieving your full potential – a personal journey

Join us in the Hub at Kellogg College for our annual Black History Month lecture, given this year by Professor Uzo Iwobi (CBE, FLSW, FRSA).

This lecture will focus on the journey of a lawyer and antiracist practitioner who is a champion of adult learning and professional development and who arrived in the UK as a migrant in 1993. It covers her experiences of racism, overcoming obstacles, personal and professional development, to becoming the first Black African Commissioner to the Commission of Racial Equality, the First Black African Specialist Policy Adviser on Equalities to the Welsh Government and a trustee to the UALL. This lecture will challenge listeners to strive to achieve their full potential and explore themes of the impact of adult learning and resilience in the face of difficulties. As Cicily Tyson says, “Dare to Dream, Audacious Dreams”.

About the speaker

Uzo is a qualified lawyer by profession, she was called to the Nigerian Bar. She was a Strategic Advisor to the Police National Diversity Team based at the Home Office. She was a commissioner to the Commission for Racial Equality UK. Uzo was one of two people from Wales highlighted by National Lottery Heritage Cymru to have her image highlighted on Stonehenge for her voluntary contributions to culture and heritage in Wales. She is the Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru – an Antiracism umbrella body in Wales.

Uzo is a founding member and coordinator of Black History Wales 365 and produced the legacy film of the Windrush Generation in Wales called Windrush Cymru @75 and served as project director of the Windrush Exhibition called Our Voices, Our Stories, Our History which is currently touring Wales. Uzo also works as the first Black person to be appointed as a Specialist Policy Adviser on Equalities to the Welsh Government advising the Minister for Social Justice and the First Minister.

In October 2021, Uzo was ranked the 6th out of 15 most influential Black Icons in Wales by Walesonline. Uzo was appointed an honorary Fellowship at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) and a Professor at Practice at UWTSD, a fellow of Royal College of Arts, fellow of Glyndwr University, Fellow Bridgend College. In 2021 Uzo was appointed a trustee of Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) which includes Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II honoured Uzo in her Platinum Jubilee Honours List with a CBE for her services to race equality and championing diversity and inclusion. In 2022 Uzo became a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2023, Uzo was appointed an independent Adviser to the Senedd Parliamentary Commission and was named one of 20 Black Icons in the UK by The Guardian newspaper whose image should be made a stamp in honour of her contributions to Black History UK in October 2023. In October 2024 Uzo was highlighted by Serendipity Institute as one of 100 Black Women Who Made A Mark.

This lecture is free and open to all. Registration is required.

If you are unable to attend after booking to attend in person, please email events@kellogg.ox.ac.uk.

Refreshments will be served from 5 pm in the Kellogg Hub. The talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

This event will be filmed and photographed; if you do not want to be included in the photographs, please speak to the photographer on the night.

Open to: Members of Kellogg College, Oxford University members, the public,