In July, PARC colleagues joined others from the University and beyond to hear a high-profile panel discuss the challenges, goals and ways of achieving Reparative Futures in higher education.
Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University, opened the event, reiterating the promise of a £10M investment over 10 years.
Dr Marie-Annick Gournet, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Reparative and Civic Futures, gave a history of the programme, the pillars that needed to be in place to get the 18-month mobilisation phase underway. The focus to date has been on listening, learning and understanding, and definng frameworks for funding allocation, equitable partnerships, leadership development and more. Recently, they have appointed a Reparative Futures team to lead and implement the work.
Also on the panel was Tracie Jolliff, Accountability Partner and Director of JT&C The Knowledge Group, who talked about the need for individuals to transform internally as a foundation for doing this work, since there are few models for how to achieve the aims of Reparative Justice.
Professor David Olusoga OBE, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in the recent graduation ceremony at Bristol, began by emphasizing that Reparative Futures is no longer just a theory – it’s happening. Following on from Tracie’s point, he added that there isn’t a model for how it should be done, that thinking is still evolving and we are drawing up the blueprint as we go. Best practice is emerging from the process, and it begins with internal motivation.
As PARC begins to implement its new strategic plan, which includes engagement of Bristol’s diaspora with the higher education life of the city, it felt timely to be having this discussion, and to absorb the wide range of insights from both the panel and those who asked questions. A closing thought that seemed to resonate was that these ideas were constructed over a long period, so they will take time to deconstruct too, but the journey is underway.
