We are establishing GRIST as a model academic social lab to drive systemic change through collaborative, research-based interventions.
Our approach
We work in a time shaped by both the growing recognition of racism and a parallel backlash against anti-racist initiatives.
Alongside this tension is a broader anti-academic trend, marked by suspicion toward rigorous research and a dismissive stance on inequality, which is increasingly framed as a matter of opinion rather than evidence.
In this context, GRIST aims to renew the value of knowledge production through interdisciplinary, creative, and experimental research, while addressing pressing methodological and ethical challenges—particularly those that call for the decolonisation of knowledge histories and practices.
We seek to challenge dominant US/UK-centric narratives and to deepen our understanding of the global logics of racisms by fostering intersectional perspectives in both research and public discourse.
Our principles
Our three guiding principles shape our approach to studying the diverse global manifestations of racism, and are deployed as follows:
- Curiosity — The force that drives critical experimentation, encouraging bold, probing questions that reimagine what we know about racisms, and how we know it, across disciplinary and geographical boundaries.
- Collaboration — A commitment to building sustained collectives amongst scholars, organisations, communities, and key public sphere actors, co-creating responses and strengthening leaderships.
- Transformation — The pursuit of engaged research that actively works to dismantle global racisms and generates practical, actionable outcomes.
Our model
Our guiding principles are woven throughout our model of work, which provide a home to each of our research projects:
- Understanding global racisms: Enabling global, relational conversations about racism as a fundamental step toward its eradication.
- Creating and sustaining communities: Fostering meaningful collaborations that facilitate impactful interventions.
- Transformative interventions: Modelling innovative ways of intervening in social contexts to address and transform racist dynamics.
Our projects
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Thinking Us
Thinking Us is an interdisciplinary project for Cambridge researchers to explore anti-racist perspectives.
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The Structure Within
The Structure Within is a creative partnership to develop a shared language to address internalised oppression.
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Studying race in Japan
A panel to create intersectional space for studying gender and race in and with Japan.
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End Everyday Racism
The End Everyday Racism initiative is an independent research project developed by Dr Ella McPherson and Dr…
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Decolonising practice through creative writing
A practical course to explore creative writing as a method and a mode of expression within social…
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Decolonising Climate
Responses to the climate crisis often exacerbate racialized inequalities, resulting in “climate apartheid” regimes and racist dispossessions.
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Creative methodologies
A series of workshops to explore the use of creative methodologies in research practice.
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Caste as practice
Caste remains a persistent marker of inequality and identity, woven into social life in India.
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Caring for transformation
This 12-session course will guide participants through an exploration of the growing recognition of the emotional effects…
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Black hair & antiracism
Chontudas and Mataepelos is an interdisciplinary study on the political economy of Black hair entrepreneurship in Colombia.
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Black British Voices
Black British Voices is delivering a community-driven narrative on how it feels to be Black and British.
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Anti-racist public engagement
A research project investigating the relationships between academia and social justice organisations in Mexico.
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Anti-Haitianism
We’re investigating the construction of anti-Haitianism as a particular kind of anti-black racism.
Global Racisms Institute for Social Transformation 