Tell us a bit about yourself
My name’s Lilian, I’m a queer ex-geneticist now working in equality and diversity in research and I’m proud to support the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation.
Why did you decide to fundraise for Cowrie?
This year, I’ve pledged to donate any and all speaker fees I get to organisations supporting Black British students and racial equity – something I hope others working in academia, research or equalities work will also do! CSF is also our chosen staff charity for the year at Wellcome Trust, which is how I came to hear of it, its fantastic ambitions, vision and values.
How did you do it?
It’s vital that we support Black students into University and throughout. Barriers and structures exist in the UK already that skew our world to favour white people and whiteness so we have to look at direct action, positive action, and equitable support to get anywhere close to equal outcomes and experiences. On top of that, as a white person I do feel like there needs to be a redistribution of resources and money, and some might frame this as reparations. It’s important to listen to Black-led organisations and communities for direction on how to do this and what is needed, and CSF is one of those vital voices. It’s great to see such positivity about the work of CSF in my circles but I know I work in a bit of a bubble. So we need to keep momentum up to help the foundation reach its fundraising goals and share its work.
We would like to thank Dr Lilian Hunt for fundraising for the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation, and also sharing her story with us!
If you have a fundraising story you would like to share, please contact us!