News

The Collections-Connections-Communities (CCC) initiative has published a blog reflecting on gaps in museum collections and historical narratives, drawing on Caribbean histories and the Middle Passage to explore questions of absence, repair, and representation in curatorial practice.Read the full piece on the CCC website.

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme at the University of Cambridge welcomes its largest cohort to date, including, for the first time, scholars from Togo and Sierra Leone. Applications for the 2027/2028 academic year open in September. Further information will be shared as it becomes available.Learn more about the Mastercard Foundation Sch…

By Celeste Kazani, PhD candidate in English.This post is part of Exploring Legacies of Enslavement: a research series, highlighting ongoing research on the legacies of enslavement.  Content note: This post includes quotations from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sources that reflect the harmful attitudes and perspectives of their time.  Quotatio…

This event took place on 12 May 2026.Read our summary of the discussion, including key themes, photographs and further resources.

This event took place on 6 May 2026.Read our summary of the discussion, including key themes, and listen to the recording.

Difficulties and dangers: researching legacies of enslavement in a post-abolition women’s college, five years on.  By Toyin Akinkunmi and Tiger Chan. This piece reflects the research experiences and perspectives of the authors, who contributed to  Newnham College’s investigation into its financial and social legacies of enslavement as student resea…

This event took place on 21 May 2026.Read our summary of the discussion.

Samuel Pepys carefully curated evidence of his links to slavery. A new study reveals how and why.Read the full story on the main University website.

Magdalene College has released interim reports on its ongoing research into the College’s historical links to enslavement, including archival investigation, material culture analysis and wider efforts to understand and acknowledge its colonial past.Read the full piece on the Magdalene College website.

The George Bridgetower Essay Competition invites submissions from students exploring themes connected to Black history, culture, and creativity. The prize encourages thoughtful engagement with the life and legacy of George Bridgetower, the celebrated Afro‑Polish composer and violinist, and supports new scholarship that broadens understanding of Bla…

By Seetha Tan PhD candidate in Sociology. This post is part of Exploring Legacies of Enslavement: a research series, highlighting ongoing research on the legacies of enslavement. 

by Dr Dacia Viejo Rose, Prof Pedro Ramos Pinto and Dr Trish Biers.This report first appeared in the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre bulletin.

Students from across Africa are studying at the Department of Engineering thanks to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme at the University of Cambridge.  Read the full item on the Department of Engineering's website. 

Girton College invites student entries for the William Dusinberre Prize. The annual prize supports and recognises student research on the legacies and practices of enslavement, encouraging thoughtful, critically engaged work that brings hidden histories into view and connects them to contemporary concerns. Closing date: 29 April 2026 More informati…

Anthropologist Caroline Bazambanza examines how Black women make sense of racial inequality in maternity care – and why their knowledge is too often ignored.Read the full story on the Department of Social Anthropology's website.