A truly equitable society is one that's based on inclusion
and inclusion can seem a very broad topic.
But actually, for me in my work,
inclusion has really been about thinking,
how do we bring more diverse voices
into the conversation around inclusion?
How do we truly understand what different people need
to feel included, what it truly means to be accepted
to have a good sense of belonging.
So facilitating dialogue is so important.
I don't think dialogue needs
to always be a top down initiative.
Some of the most powerful dialogue in fostering a sense
of belonging happens just between people in
their everyday interactions.
So we need to try and think about
how we can build a structure
that facilitates these types of exchanges.
When you bring people together,
often what happens is they realise how many common values
they have, how much commonality they have.
And this in itself can foster a sense of inclusion,
especially in diverse societies where often
there are long standing barriers between groups.
Inclusion between these people
often depends on fostering a positive sense of dialogue.
So, it also is about us as researchers learning about
what are the barriers to inclusion,
what really stops people feeling included?
And how can we go about facilitating change around those areas?
But it's also about what fosters inclusion,
only when I've gone out into communities,
my own community even, I've learnt, you know,
what is it that really makes people feel included every day?
A lot of my research to date
has focused on the role of identity.
And I find that identity is such an important part of inclusion.
And in that research
I've looked a lot at the role of national identity.
So, I looked at this concept of Britishness.
And I did lots of research in London
with minority ethnic young people.
And I found that those young people
that felt that they were accepted in British society,
they felt that they were included,
were those that also felt the happiest.
Fostering a positive sense
of national identity is really crucial,
I think, in creating a common sense of belonging.
When you have a diverse society as we do here in the UK,
if we're able to bring together people to create a vision
for who we are as a people going forward,
that touches upon perhaps the positive aspects of the past,
that form of national identity could be extremely inclusive.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing we have seen,
especially in the work
that I'm doing around faith communities,
is their extremely high level of community social action
that's been going on.
So is there a way to take this forward?
You know, we can come together, we can create commonality,
and sometimes in moments of crisis,
that's when actually people feel very high levels
of inclusion.
So is there a way that we can facilitate
this work going forward?
Can we harness this to create a sense of common culture,
a sense of national belonging
that will be more inclusive in the future?
A truly inclusive society is one
that represents a diversity of its people.
So representation is really key
in creating a more inclusive future.
We need to make sure that
we don't always have the same voices
having these conversations, we need to make sure
that we learn more about what people need,
what fosters inclusion and belonging,
but we need to hear different voices in that debate.
So one way that we could achieve this is perhaps having more
of a citizens' assembly type structure.
Lots of people I meet in communities do amazing work
at the grassroots level, they're out there,
they're building networks,
they're finding vulnerable people to support.
So they in themselves are organising
themselves around these issues.
And then you have government policy
around community cohesion, inclusion and belonging,
even the British values agenda,
but how do we bridge these two groups of people
that are trying to do similarly the same thing,
create a more inclusive society.
So a citizenns' assembly is something
that I find myself talking about with other people a lot.
And this would be more like a mid-level structure
between grassroots community activists and government
that brings together, that promotes that dialogue
that is representative.
And that would be a way to continually make sure
that these conversations feed into the right places,
and that they are coming from the communities too.
Sometimes we find ourselves going back
to the same place to get that diverse voice.
And I think, especially as a researcher,
one of the things that's really important to me
is to make sure that I bring new voices into that conversation.
I think it's amazing the way
that young people have really harnessed
the last few years in particular, to let their voices,
their collective voice be heard around the future
that they want.
Some of the research I've done at the LSE has shown us
that young people actually, they do have a very
they have a more inclusive sense of the future.
They're worried about their own rights,
but they're also worried about the rights of others.
And being an equal society,
an equitable society is very high on their agenda.
And we see them organising themselves
and taking to the streets.
So I think what we need to do is try and find a way
of how can we support young people in this fight?
What can we do to help them continually strive
for a more inclusive future?
And certainly, I think one of the things
that we try to do is, we try to use our networks
and our positions to further their cause.
And I think we need to try and be
proactive about this all the time and not just reactive,
when something bad happens.
I think we need to continually strive
to empower young people to shape the future how they want
and the way that they see the future is more inclusive.
So, I think we as researchers, and academics
and policymakers, practitioners, whatever we do,
we need to try and work closely with young people
to use our resources to support them.
I think there has been this kind of
intergenerational breakdown as well,
especially after Brexit,
where younger people have kind of said,
well, you know, we have a completely different set
of values to some older people.
And this is an example of it.
But actually, we need to go beyond that now.
And I think there is a lot
of intergenerational consensus around
rights and equality.
And I think, for the public,
it's time to kind of try and build that bridge now.
And again, that can be done through dialogue.
And I want to emphasise that dialogue doesn't have
to be something super structured,
doesn't have to be an academic discussion.
Some of the most powerful ways
to create inclusion and foster conversations
and dialogue, is just those conversations you have
with your neighbour or your friends.
So, I think having those conversations
and talking about the future is really important.
Some of the research that I have done has
shown the actually, even within families,
these conversations between generations have kind of
stalled or broken down.
So I think now,
especially as we hopefully come out
of a time of unprecedented crisis,
is the time to renew these conversations,
I think we should really try and harness this opportunity
to work together and build those conversations between older
and younger generations and just
have our support around that.
So, one of the I think practical ways that we could do this,
and something that we talk about a lot as a team is
how can we continue to close that gap between academia
and the communities that we work with?
And I think one of the things that we're trying to do is
to go beyond just actually researching communities
and communities shouldn't just be the subject
of our research, but they should be more involved in
the whole research process.
So, one way to do that, I think, is to train
and mentor young people from different communities
to become researchers to tell us more about their lives.
How they want to build a more inclusive society,
and then feed that into our research.
So it's more of a collaborative research
that I envisage going forward.
And that's what we're trying to do at the moment
where we work with young people from faith communities,
we bring them into our research,
we bring them into the conversation,
we ask them, what we can do as researchers to help them.
And, I really like this way of working because it breaks down
that divide between researchers and communities
but also academia and the world that we live in
which is so important
and social science is an amazing tool.
This is why I found myself
doing this job and doing this work,
because I am from one of those communities and
feeling like my voice matters
has been incredibly empowering for me
and I want to try and give other people a chance
to be involved in this type
of work if that's what they want.
By bringing more voices to discussions around inclusions,
we understand inclusion better,
we understand the nuances of it,
we understand what facilitates it, what hinders it.
And then we can build that into our research and hopefully
influence different sectors that are trying
to facilitate these through their own work.
If we can continue to create space
for dialogue between and within groups,
and be mindful of representation,
and think about the role of identity and belonging,
whilst working with young people on all three of these,
we can truly achieve a more inclusive future.