The UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded the Reflections from a Centre of Environment and Human Health (REACH) project which focused on understanding aspects of institutional whiteness and processes and practices of exclusion at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) at the University of Exeter Medical School.

The overall goal of the project was to consider what is currently being done and what more can be done to ensure an anti-racist, decolonial and intersectional approach is considered in research, education and employment for the environment and human health field and for the ECEHH.

The aims included:

• To understand the extent to which the ECEHH has considered the relevance of colonisation, race and racism and intersectionality in research, curriculum and working practices
• To consider and learn from the ways environmental sciences and health sciences are (de)colonising, and how research institutions have protocols and practices to ensure they are anti-racist and inclusive
• To influence research agendas, education and employment processes
• To have an open and evolving process that privilege input from people with lived experience and expertise in intersectionality, decolonisation and anti-racism, and allow space for reflection, learning/unlearning and dialogue

The project values included:

• To centre well-being and care for the whole person in their complexities
• Kindness and compassion
• Commitment to critical thought and reflexivity
• Reflection and action (should be at the forefront of anti-racist and/or decolonial practice).
• Non-horizontal organisation as much as possible; challenging power dynamics through democratisation of decision making

The REACH project depended on committed collaboration and input from an Advisory Board made up of scholars based in and outside of the University of Exeter with expertise on anti-racism and decolonial practice: Tina Verhaeghe, Sabiha Allouche, Maisha Reza, Sheray Warmington, Malcolm Richards and Riadh Ghemmour.

To ensure the work and thoughts generated through this project continued, we worked with the Health and Environment Public Engagement (HEPE), a network of community members from across Cornwall and Plymouth, as one way of continuing the dialogue beyond the university and beyond the end of this discrete project, this was led by Dr Kath Maguire. We also had the support of Rae Preston, University of Exeters’ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor for Cornwall.

The project included collaboration with the external impact-led diversity and inclusion consultancy, INCLUDED.

The REACH team worked collectively, collaboratively and as far as time and resources permitted in a non-horizontal fashion albeit with people paid on different contracts and time commitments. Weekly meetings aimed to prioritise establishing a relational dynamic that could foster open communication and through weekly check-ins, reflections and a rotating chair sought to encourage participation from all members of the project regardless of status or position. The Advisory Board provided fundamental feedback on research design, as well as signposting the significance of a mindful anti-racist practice and ensuring personal reflections on whiteness and power were continuously enacted.

The timeframe for the project was very short (from Dec 1 2021 – May 31 2022) and therefore, the REACH project was seen as the beginning of a process and hoped not to be the end in itself. The REACH Team hopes the work begun by this project can inspire further dialogue, reflection and action both within the ECEHH and other research centres focused on environments and human health.

The REACH project Final Report provides a brief overview of the project, with a number of Appendices (listed on this page) containing more detailed resources and other information on the project design and outcomes.