About the Prejudice in Power programme

Prejudice in Power is a programme of cultural activism for change against structural discrimination. It explores how eugenics has marginalised voices and shaped society.

Image: Plaster life mask of Count Franz von Thun un Hohenstein, circa 1838. Part of Robert Noel's Casts of Intellectuals series. © UCL

About Prejudice in Power

Eugenic thinking is present in the racism, ableism, homophobia and reproductive controls we see today. The Prejudice in Power programme takes a critical look at UCL’s history of eugenics and its ongoing impact through the structural inequities eugenic thinking left as a legacy.

By illuminating the spurious and unsound nature of eugenics, the discriminative notions of ‘normality’ and ‘superiority’, and UCL’s historic role in promoting the pseudoscience, the programme unpacks the impact this prejudice has in the university and in society. This includes a creative and dialogic programme of co-created projects, displays and exhibitions, a fellowship and a public art commission.

With collaboration and co-creation at the heart of this project, we’ve engaged with marginalised groups to prompt inclusive thinking. In sharing the lived experiences of those impacted and excluded by eugenic ideas, we hope to provide a platform for societal change and reparative healing.

Programme strands

Co-creation projects

Drawing on UCL's collections and archives, and working with communities to share the lived experiences of those impacted and excluded by eugenic ideas.

Words Matter: Public Art Programme

Exploring the role of arts-based methods in responding to UCL’s historic role in eugenics.

Prejudice in Power Fellowship and Cataloguing

Increasing knowledge of, and access to, new perspectives and marginalised voices in UCL's collections.

Programme outcomes

From 26 Feb 2025: Digital Showcase

Bringing together the outcomes of the Prejudice in Power programme's strands into a Digital Showcase.

27 Feb to Dec 2025 - Prejudice in Power Exhibition

Introducing many aspects of the Prejudice in Power programme and including work created by the PiP Co-creation projects. The exhibition is hosted at UCL Student Centre.

Related project

Eugenics Legacy Education Project (ELEP)

A three-year project covering the education-related recommendations from the Eugenics Inquiry, working with the UCL community to develop the teaching provision of our history and critical analysis of eugenics.

Background

In 2018, UCL's previous President & Provost Professor Michael Arthur commissioned an inquiry led by Professor Iyiola Solanke of the University of Leeds to look at UCL’s historical role in, and current teaching and study of, the history of eugenics, as well as the current status of UCL’s benefit from any financial instruments linked to the study of eugenics.

The Inquiry's report and its recommendations were published on 28 February 2020 and accepted in principle by the university. UCL has established a working group to consider how the university can respond to the recommendations. On 7 January 2021, UCL issued a formal public apology for its history and legacy of eugenics, as part of a range of actions to acknowledge and address its historical links with the eugenics movement.

Prejudice in Power programme acknowledgements

Project Team

• Sarah Aitchison, Director of Special Collections, LCCOS
• Paul Ayris, Pro Vice Provost, LCCOS
• Nicola Benge – Prejudice in Power Project Manager
• Professor Joe Cain, Academic Lead, Prejudice in Power project
• Helen Carney, Head of Communications, LCCOS
• Briony Fleming, Community Engagement Manager, Cultural and Community Engagement team
• Yasmin Jiang, Project Evaluator
• Kaissa Karhu, Co-creation and Content Manager (Prejudice in Power project), LCCOS
• Victoria Kingston – Prejudice in Power Interpretation Consultant
• Christina McGregor – Head of Museum Services, LCCOS
• Phil Mason – Educational Media Producer, UCL
• Dr Ishita Marwah, Prejudice in Power Fellow
• Sam Wilkinson, Director of Public Art, UCL
• Eugenics Legacy Cultural Programme Academic Advisory Group

Prejudice in Power Co-creators

• Yewande Akintelu-Omoniyi, Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE)
• Cerys Bradley, Facilitator Transgender Lives and Eugenics in the Museum Space
• Lila Brustad, Facilitator The Digital Legacy of Eugenics
• Aleks Jagielski, Facilitator Transgender Lives and Eugenics in the Museum Space
• Soul Miles, Facilitator And Salt the Earth Behind: Designerly Violence and the Eugenic Archive
• Jasmine Sachdev, Facilitator Eugenics and the Body
• Jess Starns, Facilitator Framing Inclusion: AI art response to Burt's Educational Standards
Huge thanks to all of the staff, students and public participants in the Prejudice in Power projects.

Words Matter project:

Artists:
Sonny Nwachukwu, Ray Young, Lasana Shabazz, Miss Jacqui, Rachel Gadsden, Simi Roach, Liam
Spencer (Annotate), Veronica McKenzie, Nayana Brathwaite, Angelo Disons, Malaika Kamure

Organisations:
• Priscilla Igwe – the New Black Film Collective
• Alice Christina-Corrigan - CRIPtic Art
• Tarik Elmoutawakil - Brownton Abbey
• Nayana Braithwaite / Pamela McCormick – UD Music

Project Contributors

• Joanna Baines, Academic Liaison Librarian/Archivist, Special Collections, LCCOS
• Anna Betts - Prejudice in Power Designer
• Dr Nazlin Bhimani, FHEA: Research Support & Special Collections Librarian. LCCOS
• Liz Blanks, Curator of Science Collections, Museums and Cultural Programmes, LCCOS
• Chris Carrington, Web Support Officer, LCCOS
• Anne Coquin, Senior Content Designer, External Engagement / Digital Experience, Information Services Division, UCL
• Erika Delbecque, Head of Rare Books and Academic Liaison, Special Collections, LCCOS
• Dieter Deswarte, Lecturer of Non-fiction Film, UCL
• Rob Drinkall, Head of Digital Services, LCCOS
• Ignacio Echeverria Faccin, Collection Manager (Care and Teaching Facilitation), LCCOS
• Mary Hinkley, Digital Imaging and Archive Officer, UCL Educational Media
• Leah Johnson, Archivist, Special Collections, LCCOS
• Helen Knowler, Associate Professor (Teaching), Eugenics Legacy Education Project (ELEP)
• Katy Makin, UCL Archivist, Special Collections, LCCOS
• Sam Manton, Exhibitions Manager, LCCOS
• Montaz Marché, Historian and PhD Researcher
• Colin Penman, Head of Records, Special Collections, LCCOS
• Dr Adam Rutherford, Lecturer in Biology and Society, UCL
• Tor Wight, Project Manager, Eugenics Legacy Education Project (ELEP)
• Subhadra Das, Curator, UCL Science Collections 2012 – 2021
• Professor Marius Turda, Oxford Brookes University
• Amad Uddin, Student Centre Manager, LCCOS
• Steve Wright, Digitisation Manager, Special Collections, LCCOS

UCL Students

• Yuening Fu
• Mia Rose McDonald
• Jamy Silver
• Sonya Shydlyk
• Aashi Tibrewal