Dr April-Louise Pennant

(she/her)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

I am currently working on the Leverhulme Trust funded project : The source of the stream: centring the enslaved Africans who built Penrhyn Castle | The Leverhulme Trust

Previously, as part of my Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) postdoctoral fellowship, I worked on the project: Understanding to Overstand the education system: The educational journeys and experiences of Black British women graduates.

I am a Research Associate at the Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET) at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. I am also a Honorary Research Associate at Bangor University's School of History, Law and Social Sciences. Additionally, I am a member of the GW4/National Trust partnership's expert Community of Practice (CoP), working with specific National Trust properties under the theme of Colonial Connections.

My research interests include:

• Social Justice and Inequality: Examining educational and workplace inequalities, including the role of policy and anti-Black racism.
• Identity and Intersectionality: Exploring race, ethnicity, culture, gender, social class, and Black British and Black diasporic identities.
• Theoretical Approaches: Utilising Black Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, BlackCrit, Black Girlhood Studies, and Bourdieu's Theory of Practice.
• History, Memory, and Heritage: Investigating historical narratives, memory, and cultural heritage.

Biography

Honours and awards

• Visiting Fellow at the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/ Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB) (2024)
• Honarary Research Associate in the School of History, Law and Social Sciences, Bangor University (2023)
• The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (2022)
• Research Associate at the Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET) at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa (2022)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Cardiff University (2021)
• Welsh Government 'Valuing Diversity' Award (2021)
• WeAreTheCity and The Times and The Sunday Times 'Rising Star' Award in the Education & Academia category (2019)
• Westmere Scholar for the College of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham (2018)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 1+3 Award at the University of Birmingham (2015)
• Outstanding International/Multicultural Initiative of the Year at the University of Kent's Student Awards (2015)
• Student of the Year at the University of Kent's Students Awards (2015)

Professional memberships

• African Caribbean Research Collective
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
• British Academy Early Career Researcher Network
• Learned Society of Wales Early Career Network
• British Art Network (BAN)
• British Sociological Association 

Academic positions

• 2023- present: Honarary Research Associate, School of History, Law and Social Sciences, Bangor University
• 2022- present: Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Cardiff University
• 2021 - 2022: ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Cardiff University

Speaking engagements

• Exploring Histories of Labour: inclusive heritage and collaboration, Being Human Festival, Amgueddfa Cymru | Museum Wales (2023)
• Centring the enslaved Africans who built Penrhyn castle: Curating with care, diverse histories and visitors in mind, National Trust Curating Our Cultural Heritage 2023 & beyond Conference, MShed (2023)
• Black History Month Exhibition '50 Plaques & Places', The Tabernacle (2023)
• Mapping race, anti-racism and legacies of empire in Aberystwyth, Online (2023)
• Black Atlantic, BBC Arts & Ideas (2023) Listen here.
• Dr April-Louise Pennant, The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network Research Cafe - Cardiff Special, sbarc|spark, Cardiff University (2023)
• Centring the source of the stream & strengthening global connections in the heritage sector, INTO Global connections workshop, Bath Assembly rooms (2023)
• A Work in progress: Centing the enslaved Africans who built Penrhyn castle, Memory Studies Association Conference, Transgenerational memory, education, museums and activism session, Newcastle (2023)
• Research-in-progress- The Source of the Stream: centring the enslaved Africans who built Penrhyn castle, Amgueddfa Cymru | Museum Wales' lunchtime seminar series (2023)
• Mapping Out the all the Black in the Union Jack: Being a Black woman scholar-activist in modern Britain, Black Europe Summer School, the Netherlands (2022)
• How to be a Transformer in educational spaces and places, University of Kent (2022)
• Penrhyn Castle & the Pennants - a Personal Journey by Dr April-Louise Pennant, Black History Cymru 365 (2021)
• Promoting An Anti-Racist Wales: Lessons from Running Against the Wind, Race Council Cymru (2021)
• Black women in education, Wales & reparations, Surviving Society Podcast (2021)
• Stories of our times: The legacy of Penrhyn Castle (Pt 1, 2 and 3), The Times Podcast (2021)
• Respecting Race in the Workplace, Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government Podcast (2021) 
• Black bodies in white educational spaces, Bristol Conversations in Education research seminar series (2021) 
• #NavigatingInSilence: Black British Women in education and the workplace, Centre On The Dynamics Of Ethnicity (CoDE) webinar (2021)

Some of these speaking engagements, along with others are available to be listened to on my personal website here.

Committees and reviewing

• 2022- 2023: SOCSI Ethics Committee
• 2021- 2022: The Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Diversity (MEAD) Research Group