Giorgia Doná and Roshini Kempadoo appointed Co-Chairs of the SHF Academic Committee

SHF Trustee Giorgia Doná and SHF Associate Roshini Kempadoo have been appointed as the new Co-Chairs of the Stuart Hall Foundation’s Academic Committee.

Giorgia, Professor of Forced Migration and Refugee Studies and co-director of the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging, joined the Foundation as an Associate in 2024 before stepping into the role of Trustee earlier this year. Roshini is a Professor in the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media at the University of Westminster and her work with the Foundation extends as far back as 2018, before joining as an Associate in 2021.

As Co-Chairs, Giorgia and Roshini will lead the long-standing dedicated committee of SHF Trustees and Associates responsible for steering the development of our academia-related work. This work includes supporting our Peer Network of scholars and artists, alongside the development of our academic partnerships.

(Left to right) Giorgia Doná and Roshini Kempadoo

“We are honoured to be contributing to the Stuart Hall Foundation as Co-Chairs of the Academic Committee. In this role and in conjunction with SHF staff, trustees and members we aim to strengthen and further develop the intellectual and creative space of the SHF through our work with the scholar and fellows programme, our partnerships and collaborations. We continue to be interested in embedding Stuart Hall’s approach in working more collaboratively, encouraging collective work, aspirations and achievements. Our ambition also is to expand the intellectual and creative space inside, at the margins, and outside formal institutions. Continuing Stuart Hall’s legacy of intervention and challenge is pressing and comes at a critical time in which present planetary conditions require more effort, thought and imagination.”

Giorgia Doná and Roshini Kempadoo, Co-Chairs of the SHF Academic Committee

“We are delighted to welcome Giorgia Dona and Roshini Kempadoo as the new Co-Chairs of the Stuart Hall Foundation’s Academic Committee. Their contributions to the Foundation’s academic work over many years have been invaluable, and together they bring exceptional experience across scholarship, artistic practice, public education and academic leadership. They will play an important role in guiding our Peer Network programme, ensuring it continues to offer a space where Stuart Hall scholars, fellows and artists can engage with Professor Hall’s ideas in dialogue with the political and cultural questions of our time.”

Orsod Malik, Executive Director of the Stuart Hall Foundation

Giorgia Doná

Giorgia Doná is a UK-based Italian migrant, academic and advocate for the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.  Her practice involves collaboration with professionals and cultural activists. Giorgia co-directs the Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London, where she promotes access to higher education for students from underrepresented backgrounds. She writes on questions of displacement, borders, representation, and diaspora youth including on the project Debordering Higher Education: Refugees, Universities and Social Justice (forthcoming).

Roshini Kempadoo

Roshini Kempadoo is an international photographer, media artist and scholar with the School of Arts, University of Westminster. She has worked for over 30 years as a cultural activist and advocate, having been instrumental to the development of Autograph (ABP) and Ten.8 Photographic Magazine. As an artist she re-imagines everyday experiences and womens’ perspectives relating to Caribbean legacies and memories. Central to this is her book Creole in the Archive: Imagery, Presence and Location of the Caribbean Figure (2016). Her ongoing research develops creative methodologies on issues of race and extraction in relation to ecological futures.

Read more about the SHF Peer Network.