Black History Month University Events
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Black History Month 2026 provides an opportunity to celebrate how Black people have contributed to Britain in the past, the present and into the future. This year's theme, Honouring Our Communities, invites us to recognise and celebrate the individuals whose everyday contributions help shape, support, and sustain Black life across the United Kingdom. The University of Oxford has organised events during this month, which are listed below:
Black History Month Lecture in Physics
Tuesday 6 October, 11.30am-12.30pm
Speaker: Dr Farrah Simpson (Princeton University)
Title: Search for Long-Lived Particles in Run 3 at the CMS Detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider
A public lecture exploring Dr Simpson's research at CERN, including the use of machine learning to search for novel physics and rare particles. No prior physics knowledge is required.
Kellogg College Annual Black History Month Lecture
Wednesday 21 October, 5.30pm-6.30pm
Speaker: Landé Belo
Title: The Future Isn't Neutral: Race, Fairness and Equality in the Age of AI
Landé Belo, one of the UK's leading experts on employment law, equality and organisational change, will explore one of the defining issues of our time: how artificial intelligence is reshaping the workplace, who benefits from these technologies, and how we can ensure they advance equality rather than entrench existing biases
Register: Kellogg College event page
Empowering Leadership through Inclusion: A Black History Month Event
Wednesday 21 October, 6pm-7pm
(Onsite check-in from 5.30pm, networking until 8pm)
Speaker: Professor Doyin Atewologun
Location: Saïd Business School, Park End Street, Oxford
Title: Empowering Leadership through Inclusion: A Black History Month Event
Join us for a thought-provoking talk by Professor Doyin Atewologun, a renowned business psychologist and Founder and CEO of Delta Alpha Psi. In her talk, ‘The Leadership Opportunity: How everyday decisions shape organisational success,’ Prof. Atewologun will introduce the Cycle of Opportunity, an evidence-based framework that highlights differential career pathways between well represented and less represented professionals resulting from the cumulative impact of bias and ‘shadow processes.’ This event is a unique opportunity to gain insights into the critical role of leadership in shaping organisational culture and performance.
Register: Eventbrite registration
University of Oxford Black History Month Lecture 2026
Thursday 22 October, from 5pm
Speaker: Professor Adom Getachew
Title: The Iconicity of Africa
Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
Presented by the BME Staff Network, Nuffield College and the Equality and Diversity Unit, this year's University Black History Month Lecture explores how the idea of Africa became a powerful symbol of racial solidarity and emancipation over the course of the twentieth century. The event is free and open to members of the University and the public.
Register: Oxford Events registration page
St Cross South African Township Music Concert
Thursday 22 Oct, 7pm
Location: Pusey Chapel
A special Black History Month concert hosted by St Cross College in partnership with Pusey House. South African township music is a collective term for the vibrant genres created by Black communities in the racially segregated urban areas of the 20th century. Rooted in the struggles and daily realities of apartheid, it weaves traditional African vocal harmonies and rhythms together with the influences of Western jazz, swing, pop and R&B. More than a source of danceable rhythms and collective joy, township music became a vital instrument of survival and political resistance, uniting diverse communities and giving a powerful voice to the cultural identity of South Africa.
Register: St Cross South African Township Music Concert | St Cross College
St John's College Black History Month Lecture 2026
Thursday 29 Oct, 5-6:30pm
Speaker: Professor Mia Bay, University of Cambridge
Location: Auditorium, Garden Quad, St John's College
Title: 'The Call and the Answer: Travel and Literature in the Work of Addie B. Hunton and Kathryn M. Johnson'
Professor Bay will discuss the travel, work and thought of Addie B. Hunton and Kathryn M. Johnson, two YMCA workers sent to France in 1918 to investigate the treatment of 200,000 segregated black troops stationed there during World War I. Mia Bay is Paul Mellon Professor of American History and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Her research focuses on the history of ideas about race, the intellectual work of black women, the study of African American approaches to citizenship, and the history of race and transportation.
Register: St John's College Black History Month Lecture 2026
