Turning Points: Black and working-class journeys into health research. Film screening, discussion and refreshments

Turning Points: Black and/or working-class journeys into health research is a documentary film in which three professors, Amaka Offiah (Sheffield), Helen Minnis (Glasgow), Sharon Cox (UCL) and PhD candidate Tomi Akingbade (Cambridge) share why they wanted to become academic researchers, how they achieved their goals, what their research is about and how their lived experience has shaped their journeys and their goals.

Filmed in Sheffield, Glasgow, London and Cambridge the film also captures the daily spaces of academic life. Directed by Bartek Dziadosz, the film was funded by a Wellcome Trust grant awarded to Birkbeck. The purpose of the film is to encourage more Black and/or working-class people to enter academic health research and shape the future knowledge of how to achieve good health outcomes for all.

Following the screening, we will be joined by Dr Gemma Knowles (King's College London), Jonas Kitisu (King's College London), Professor Karen Wells (Birkbeck, University of London), and Dr Yamiko Msosa (King's College London) for a panel discussion chaired by Professor Angus Roberts exploring the themes raised by the film, including routes into health research, lived experience, representation and whose perspectives shape the knowledge we produce.

After the discussion you are welcome to stay for a coffee/tea and a snack and chat about how to become a health researcher.