Equality and Social Inclusion

Our work

Impact evaluation

People and Their Brilliance work to make positive employability experiences, particulary for those that have been unemployed for a long time. As part of the BRITE project, they worked academics on an impact evaluation to help provide quantitative data to improve their service and secure future funding.

I'm really excited about where this work could lead us. It really could open a whole new chapter and a way to expand the business in ways I hadn’t imagined before.

  Darius Norell, Director, People and Their Brilliance

Tackling racism in football 

Researchers at the University of Brighton, collaborated with UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, and groups representing football supporters to ensure that fans are involved in initiatives to tackle racism, homophobia and violence. 

Funded by UEFA, the project investigated whether anti-racist activism by fans challenged racism and xenophobia. 

The findings revealed the tactics and practices fans have used to establish progressive activist groups to pressure football clubs, federations and governments to tackle discrimination.

Researchers now working with the Football Supporters’ Federation and Football Supporters Europe, using the key findings to advise on how fans can be involved in anti-discrimination campaigns.

LGBTQ+ health care 

Historically, LGBTQ+ populations across Europe have experienced significant health inequalities. Research led by the University of Brighton has tackled these health inequalities within the LGBTQ+ community, generating changes in policy and health education at local, national and European levels.  

Domestic abuse and LGBTQ+ people 

The Count Me In Too project aimed to identify and address the needs of LGBTQ+ people in the Brighton and Hove area. 

Collaborating with LGBTQ+ Community Forum Spectrum, the Universities of Brighton and Sussex’s research focused on meeting the needs of local LGBTQ+ people. 

The research analysed experiences of domestic violence and abuse, exploring differences within the LGBTQ+ grouping, relationships and sex, housing, safety and fear of crime. It also examined the services available for LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence and abuse.  

The project made recommendations on strategy, policy, training, education, services, support needs, publicity and funding – with a focus on making a difference to the lives of LGBTQ+ people who had experienced domestic violence. 

Inclusive arts practice 

Our research initiated radical new arts collaborations between students and marginalised community groups around the world.

A 14-year collaboration with the learning disabled Rocket Artists group, pushed the boundaries of inclusion in the arts through performance, symposiums and exhibitions – making the case for diversity through the work, while posing questions that challenge prejudice and isolation.

Digital storytelling 

Digital Storytelling can help people with difficult challenges in their lives to find their voice. This technique has been used with diverse groups to help people develop relatable narratives from complex thoughts. It can help those with difficult challenges in their lives develop a new voice, help researchers find a way to break down a new project, or help the elderly share memories.

We worked with the typically invisible groups of prisoners’ families through the Hidden Voices project, partnering with Zap Art & Sussex Prisoners’ Families (SPF) to raise awareness of the ‘hidden sentence’ by parents, partners and children of the incarcerated.  

Our Silver Stories project was created to train health and social care professionals to help the elderly tell their stories, enriching the lives of the old people who participated. We trained professionals working with older people and community groups, reaching over 650 people and developed comprehensive learning materials. 

Diversifying the curriculum

The UK National Union of Students (NUS) report, ‘Race for equality’, identified student dissatisfaction around Minority Ethnic student participation in higher education. In response, the collaborative project Clothes On Our Backs held creative workshops to engage members of the Minority Ethnic community in Sussex. 

Following the workshops, an interdisciplinary network was set up and a new University of Brighton course module was written to ensure that the voices and identities of the Minority Ethnic students were being heard. 

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