Key details
Professor Tracey Reynolds
Associate Dean Research & Knowledge Exchange
Professor Tracey Reynolds is Professor of Social Sciences and Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange, and Director of the Institute for Inclusive Communities and Environments, Çï¿ûÊÓƵ. Tracey’s research areas focus on Black and racialised migrant families and communities. She has conducted extensive empirical research in the UK across a range of social issues including black and minority ethnic families living in disadvantaged communities, and comparative studies of families in the Caribbean and North America. Her teaching at the Çï¿ûÊÓƵ, are in the areas of family studies and family policy.
Tracey’s projects involve community engagement and knowledge transfer partnerships with community organisations supporting BAME and migrant groups. These include creative, participatory and co-produced projects, funded by AHRC and charities, eg Mercers Funds focuses on improving wellbeing and social inclusion of these communities Her most recent collaborative projects provide training to community practitioners in participatory methodologies, co-produce creative tools and resources with local organisations to explore community resilience during COVID-19 pandemic, local actions for change, and to utilise story-telling as an approach to consider the impact of hostile environment policies for migrant communities including those with long-established patterns of settlement in the UK (e.g Windrush Generation).
Project include: Migrant Mothers Caring for the Future: Creative interventions in making new citizens, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2013 - 2015, (with Umut Erel, Open University, PI). . ‘Participatory Arts and Social Action Research’, ESRC (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O’Neill, University College Cork University), , 2016-2018. Participatory Artsbased Methods For Civic Engagement In Migrant Support Organizations, funded by AHRC, 2020-21 (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O'Neill, University College Cork)
Tracey has over 80 publications in the form of books, articles in international peer reviewed journals, chapter in edited volumes, policy reports and working paper. Previous publications include ‘Exploring the absent/present dilemma: Black fathers, family relationships and social capital in Britain’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (2009). She is also the author of Caribbean Mothers: Identity and Experience in the UK(published by Tufnell Press, 2005); Transnational Families: Ethnicities, Identities and Social Capital, with Harry Goulbourne, John Solomos and Elisabetta Zontini, (published by Routledge, 2010) and co-editor of special issues: ‘Young People, Ethnicity and Social Capital’ in the Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies (May 2010). ‘Migrant Mothers Challenging Racialized Citizenship’, Ethnic and Racial Studies (2018), ‘Migrant mothers: kin work and cultural work in making future citizens’, ‘Families, Relationship and Societies, (November 2018)​.
Project include: Migrant Mothers Caring for the Future: Creative interventions in making new citizens, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2013 - 2015, (with Umut Erel, Open University, PI). . ‘Participatory Arts and Social Action Research’, ESRC (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O’Neill, University College Cork University), , 2016-2018. Participatory Artsbased Methods For Civic Engagement In Migrant Support Organizations, funded by AHRC, 2020-21 (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O'Neill, University College Cork)
Tracey’s achievement was recognised in a national exhibition Phenomenal Women: Portraits of UK Black Female Professors and Talk at South Bank Centre, Oct-Nov 2020. This exhibition showcased 45 Black female Professors in the UK (out of a total of 21,000 Professors). She is conferred Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021 and she is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Responsibilities within the university
- UoA20 Lead Social Work and Social Policy
Awards
Research Awards
- Upskilling Older BAME People in the use of online technologies to help overcome isolation and loneliness, Mercers Fund, £90,00, 2020-22 (with Dave Hockham, Çï¿ûÊÓƵ)
- Artsbased Methods for Civic Engagement in Migrant Support Organisations, funded by AHRC, £99, 000 2020-21 (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O’Neill, University of Cork, Dublin
- ‘In Celebration of Windrush 2020 ,£5360 (with National Maritime Museum and Caribbean Social Forum), funding by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2020
- ‘Participatory Action Research (PAR): Participatory Theatre and Walking Methods' Potential for Co-producing knowledge’, £463,000 (2016-2018), ESRC (with Dr Umut Erel (PI) Open University, and Prof. Maggie O’Neill, University of York)
- Migrant mothers caring for the future: creative interventions in making new citizens, £45,000Arts Humanities Research Council, Research Network Grant (with Dr Umut Erel, Open University) Grant Ref: AH/K00591X/1
- Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Elders: Evaluation of Wellbeing and Life History Project, £145,000,funded by Age Concern and Big Lottery, November 2010-November 2013, Grant Holder: Tracey Reynolds
Research Development Awards (Çï¿ûÊÓƵ)
- ‘My Creative Skills’: Co-producing creative tools to investigate Black migrants’ community resilience and lived local knowledges during COVID-19 ( with Creating Ground)
- ‘Finding Strength;: participatory story-telling and, a co-produced short film on the impact of the hostile environment on migrant families during COVD-19 (with Creating Ground and Citizens UK) t
- ‘Let our Legacy Continue’: gallery exhibition on Caribbean migrant stories of yesteryear, today and tomorrow (with Caribbean Social Forum) (
- 'Youth Matters: Participatory arts as a creative space for young people's social explorations' 2015- 2016
Recognition
Exhibition and Talk at South Bank Centre, Oct-Nov 2020
Peer Review/Panel Member
- Ideas Hub 2020: Wellcome Trust
- Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships
- AHRC and ESRC - research and innovation ideas to address the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts.
- The Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium
Member of Peer Review College
- Arts, Humanities and Research Council,
- Editorial Board Member
- Families, Relationships and Societies
- Gender and Education, Palgrave Macmillan Book series, (2014- current)
- British Journal of Sociology, U.K, (2013- current)
- 'International Journal of Social Research Methodology', U.K, (2008- current)
- 'Journal of Fatherhood', Canada (2009)
Fellowship Awards
- Honorary Director of Research for the Campaign of Broadcasting Equality,
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2014
- Taylor and Francis: Routledge Publishing Group, 'Sociology Super-Author' award, 2013
- Research Excellence Award, London South Bank University, 2007
- Promising Research Fellowship, London South Bank University, 2007
- Visiting Fellow, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, University of Surrey, 2007-2008
- Visiting Fellow, Department of Sociology and Social Work, 2005-2007
- Visiting Fellow, Caribbean Childhood Study Centre, Dominica, 2004
Scientific Advisory Board Member
- Enduring Love?: couples Relationships in the 21st century', funded by ESRC, Open University (2011- 13).
- School Choice and Ethnic Segregation: Educational decision-making among Black and Minority Ethnic
- Parents, funded by the Department Communities and Local Government, , Runnymede Trust (2007).
- Black Architects Project', funded by Royal Institute of British Architects and Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, Policy Studies Institute (2004).
- Ethnicity Minority Outreach Services, funded by Department of Work and Pensions, Policy Studies Institute (2002-3)
Memberships of scientific societies
- International Migration Integration and Social Cohesion (IMISCOE) (2007- current)
- British Sociological Association (2012- current)
External Examiner
- Middlesex University, MSc Social Research Methods (2011-current)
- Middlesex University, Migration and Citizenship module, BSc Sociology (2014)
Research / Scholarly interests
Tracey has over 80 publications in the form of books, articles in international peer reviewed journals, chapter in edited volumes, policy reports and working paper. She is also the author of Caribbean Mothers: Identity and Experience in the UK (2005); one of the first books to explore the experiences of Black mothers and parenting in a UK context. She has also conducted extensive research in the Caribbean on the issues of transnational family networks.
Tracey has been awarded funding grants from UKRI bodies: AHRC, ESRC to research Black and migrants' families; and charitable agencies: Big Lottery, Mercers Fund to on health ageing among BAME older people. Consultancies include work with Family Action, the Fostering Network, and Metropolitan Housing Trust. These projects involved collaborative partnerships with range of academics, policymakers, and practitioners, especially in relation to BAME communities, race equality and community cohesion. The current focus of her work is focused on developing public engagement and knowledge exchange projects with BAME and racialised migrants' communities organisations and individuals using co-produced, creative and participatory methodologies. As an activist academic, Tracey is deeply committed to developing projects with community organisations (and civil society organisations that champion social justice, the end to family poverty and citizenship rights of vulnerable and marginalised groups in society.
Tracey is one of only 45 Back female professors in the UK. She recently took part in research and a national exhibition, at the South Bank Centre, ‘Phenomenal Women’, exploring this issue.
Key funded projects
Research Awards
‘Upskilling Older BAME People in the use of online technologies to help overcome isolation and loneliness, Mercers Fund, £90,00, 2020-22 (with Dave Hockham, Çï¿ûÊÓƵ)
Artsbased Methods for Civic Engagement in Migrant Support Organisations, funded by AHRC, £99, 000 2020-21 (with Umut Erel, Open University and Maggie O’Neill, University of Cork, Dublin
‘In Celebration of Windrush 2020 ,£5360 (with National Maritime Museum and Caribbean Social Forum), funding by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2020
‘Participatory Action Research (PAR): Participatory Theatre and Walking Methods' Potential for Co-producing knowledge’, £463,000 (2016-2018), ESRC (with Dr Umut Erel (PI) Open University, and Prof. Maggie O’Neill, University of York)
Migrant mothers caring for the future: creative interventions in making new citizens, £45,000Arts Humanities Research Council, Research Network Grant (with Dr Umut Erel, Open University) Grant Ref: AH/K00591X/1
Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Elders: Evaluation of Wellbeing and Life History Project, £145,000,funded by Age Concern and Big Lottery, November 2010-November 2013, Grant Holder: Tracey Reynolds
Research Development Awards (Çï¿ûÊÓƵ)
‘My Creative Skills’: Co-producing creative tools to investigate Black migrants’ community resilience and lived local knowledges during COVID-19 ( with Creating Ground)
‘Finding Strength;: participatory story-telling and, a co-produced short film on the impact of the hostile environment on migrant families during COVD-19 (with Creating Ground and Citizens UK) t
‘Let our Legacy Continue’: gallery exhibition on Caribbean migrant stories of yesteryear, today and tomorrow (with Caribbean Social Forum) (
' 2015- 2016
Media activity
- Read, Watch and Listen more' section:
- Link to the event on Youtube:
- The Guardian, Portraits of UK Black Female Professors - in pictures
- Black Female Professors
- Stylist
What have we learned since Grenfell – Cambridge Union Online
Times Higher Education, Q&A with Tracey Reynolds
Guardian Comment: The vast majority of black children are raised in stable, loving homes[
Young Londoners, and Identity, broadcast, ITV London News, 9th January 2014
'Black Mothers Raising Over Feminised Black Boys' BBC Radio London (28.3.10),
Black and minority ethnic barriers to employment – Colourful radio FM, 11 June 2007
Linking Caribbean families at Christmas – Colourful FM, 23 December 2006
'In celebration of black mothers' - Choice FM January 25 2006
'New book promotes the positive role of Caribbean mothers in the UK', www.blackbritian.co.uk/news/details January 27 2006
New Book on Caribbean mothers in the UK', www.blackbritian.co.uk, 25 October 2005
'Sad and Single? Look Again: Experiences of African Caribbean Mothers' , Voice Newspaper, November 7th 2005
'Caribbean mothers in the UK', Caribbean Magazine, BBC World Service www.bbc.co.uk/Caribbean, 22 November 2005
'Race, Women and Society', BBC online, 2003
Recent publications
Book/monographsStella, F.; Taylor, Y.; Reynolds, T. and Rogers, A (eds) (2015) Sexualities, Citizenship and Belonging', London: Routledge Guest Co/Editor of Special IssuesMigrant Mothers: kin work and cultural work in making future citizens (2018), Families, Relationship and Societies (with Umut Erel) vol 3 no. 7 'Migrant Mothers Challenging Racialized Citizenship', (2017) Ethnic and Racial Studies, with Umut Erel D'Diasporic Transnational Youth identities' (2014) Identities (with Elisabetta Zontini) 'Young People, Social Capital and Ethnic Identity', (2010) Ethnic and Racial Studies ArticlesReynolds, T. (2020) Studies of the Maternal: Black Mothering 10 Years On. Studies in the Maternal, 13(1): 8. DOI: Kaptani, E; Erel, E; O’Neill, M; and Reynolds, T (2020) Methodological Innovation in Research: Participatory Theater with Migrant Families on Conflicts and Transformations over the Politics of Belonging, Journal of Immigration and Refugee Studies (online) O’Neill, M; Erel, E; Kaptani, E and Reynolds, T (2019) Borders, Risk and Belonging: challenges for arts-based research in understanding the lives of women asylum seekers and migrants ‘at the borders of humanity’, Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, 10 (1): 129-147 Reynolds, T; Erel, U and Kaptani, E (2018) Migrant Mothers: Performing kinwork and belonging across private and public boundaries, Families, Relationships and Societies, 7(3): 357-364 Zontini, E and Reynolds, T (2018) "Mapping the role of ‘transnational family habitus’ in the lives of young people and children", Global Networks, 18 (3)418-436 Erel, U., Reynolds, T. and Kaptani, E., (2017), , Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41 (1): 55-72 Erel, U.; Reynolds, T. and Kaptani, E., ( 2017), , Qualitative Research 17.3: 302-312 Reynolds, T (2017) , Compass log, January 2017 Erel, Umut, Maggie O’Neill, Tracey Reynolds, and Erene Kaptani (2017), "", Discover Society. Reynolds, T and Erel, U (2016) , Open Democracy, Erel, U and Reynolds T (2014) Black Feminist Theory for Participatory Theatre with Migrant Mothers, Feminist Review Special Issue on Black British Feminism, issue 108 pp 106-111
Reynolds, T. (2013) "Them and Us": 'Black Neighbourhoods' as a Social Capital Resource among Black Youths Living in Inner-City London, U.K., in Journal of Urban Studies, 50 (3): 484 - 498 Book Chapters Reynolds, T (2015) 'Black Mammy and company: exploring constructions of black womanhood in Britain', in Stella, F.; Taylor, Y.; Reynolds, T. and Rogers, A (eds) Sexualities, Citizenship and Belonging', London: Routledge RESEARCH REPORTSFlynn, Don; Erel, Umut; O’Neill, Maggie and Reynolds, Tracey (2019): "". Reynolds, T; Erel, U and O’Neill, M (2017),Participatory Action Research Engaging marginalised communities in policy and practice, Runnymede Policy Briefing Gillies, V and Reynolds, T (2016) Evaluation of Family Intervention Programmes, Family Action Reynolds, T (2014) Access for BAME Elders, Final Report, Age UK Lewisham and Southwark Reynolds, T (2010) Evaluation of Leading Our Lives: Young People's Participation within the Fostering Service, London: Fostering Network, England. Online Training Resources and ToolkitErel, Umut; Kaptani, Erene (2018), . O’Neill, Maggie; Reynolds, Tracey, (2018) . O’Neill, Maggie; Erel, Umut; Kaptani, Erene; Reynolds, Tracey (2018) .Working PapersDűrrschmidt, J.; Edwards R.; Gillies, V.; Lantermann, S.; Reynolds, T.; and Schönewolf, A. (2010) Families, Social Capital and Migration: An Exploration of Strategies of Getting by and Getting Ahead in Comparative Context - Germany and Britain, Families and Social Capital Working Paper Series, no.28, London South Bank University Book ReviewsReynolds, T (2010) Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic, By P. Thompson and E. Bauer, Ian Randle Press, 2008 in Journal of Community, Work and Family, 3, 1: 123-125. |
Presentations
Keynote, invited plenary papers
2019: Migrant and Transnational Families, Urbino, Italy
2018: Migrant Mothers, Kinwork and Food, Symposium on Foodwork: Gendered, Racialised, and Classed Labours, University of Sussex
2018: Participatory & Mobile Methods in social research with migrant mothers, European Sociological Association, Athens, Greece (with Erel, O’Neill and Kaptani)
2018: PARTICIPATORY ARTS AND SOCIAL ACTION RESEARCH (PASAR): Participatory Theatre and Walking Methods – Research, Engagement, Dissemination, ESRC Research Methods Festival (with Erel, O’Neill and Kaptani)
2017: 20-years on from Black British (Super)Woman’, Classics Revisited: Black British Feminism, University of Cambridge
2017: 'Them and Us': Black Neighbourhoods, Social Resources among Black Youths in Inner City Areas, UK, 'Migration, Trans-cultural and Mental health, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, February 2017
2017: Mapping the role of transnational family habitus in the lives of Black and Minority Ethnic Youths, Public Lecture, Birbeck Institute for Social Research, Birbeck College, University of London, June 2017
2016: ESRC Research Methods Festival, Participatory Theatre and Walking methods- Panel, July 2016 (with Erel, O'Neill and Kaptani)
2014: Intersectional and Lived Experiences: Empirical Reflections on the Embodied 'Other', ESRC seminar series Critical Diversities@ the Intersection: Policies, Practices, Perspectives, conference 12-13th July 2014, LSBU, London
2014: Caribbean Second Generation Return Migration: Transnational Networks, Family Relationships with 'Left Behind' Kin-Members in Britain, GRAMNet conference Migration and Intimate Life, 18th June, University of Glasgow
2013:, Deficit and Dysfunctionality': interrogating the media portrayal of black, minority ethnic and migrant women in the UK, Feminist revel Panel and LSE Gender Institute London School of Economics, December 10 2013
2013: Mind(ful) of the gap?: how equality and diversity policies are failing black women in neo-liberal Britain Blackness in Britain conference, Newham University Birmingham
2012: 'Access and wellbeing for BAME older people', ESRC Seminar series launch on Ageing among BME communities, plenary paper, ESRC Seminar Series 'Ageing, Race and Ethnicity', 7-8 November, Univ of Brunel, London
2012: 'Family Lives and Intimate Ties across National Boundaries and Cultural Divides: Bringing Transnational Families from the Margins to the Centre of Family Studies in Britain', Family and Relationship Stream Plenary Paper, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, 10-13 April Leeds
Invited International conference papers
2012: 'Family Lives and Intimate Ties across National Boundaries and Cultural Divides', Institute for Social Research, 25 September, University of Oslo, Norway (with Elisabetta Zontini)
2011: 'Care Circulation in Transnational Families: Social and Cultural Capitals', Catholic University of Louvain 24-25 October, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (with Dr Elisabetta Zontini).
2004: 'Caribbean young people Diasporic identities', Jamaican Association of Young Rotarians, Annual Conference, 16 May, Kingston, Jamaica.