Black Atlantic Innovation Network

The Black Atlantic Innovation Network (BAIN) convenes leading cultural organisations, researchers and educationalists across the UK to advance a practicable new framework for environmental justice.

Co-chaired by Professor Paul Gilroy and Ashish Ghadiali and coordinated as a partnership between Radical Ecology and UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation, the Network takes as its starting point an acknowledgement that environmental breakdown cannot be separated from shared histories of the transatlantic slave trade and drives existing inequities, including those of race, gender, age and dis/ability.

BAIN works with organisations to explore how institutional structures and cultures can be transformed by cutting across equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), sustainability/net zero and decolonisation as frameworks for change. In doing so, we amplify the power of cultural actors – heritage, arts and education – to support the emergence of civic spaces that are inclusive, innovative and confident in the face of the planetary climate emergency.

Founding members of BAIN include the National Trust, the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Eden Project. Since our establishment in March 2022, network activities include the public gathering, Equilibrium, held at the Serpentine pavilion in July 2022 and the Decolonising Secondary and Sixth-Form Education workshop, held at UCL Institute for Advanced Studies in July 2023.

The work of BAIN has been made possible through financial support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise, UKRI (via Esther Breithoff’s Future Leaders Fellowship funding) and UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies. Current projects are funded by Lankelly Chase and the Open Society Foundations, including the development of a policy framework and digital hub for environmental justice.

For further information please contact BAIN coordinator Dr Katie Natanel –katie@radicalecology.earth. Enquires may also be directed to Professor Rodney Harrison (r.harrison@ucl.ac.uk) or Professor Tariq Jazeel (t.jazeel@ucl.ac.uk), who lead our work with heritage and education sectors.

Event: Equilibrium: A Public Gathering on Environmental Justice

A public gathering focused on environmental justice, held on the occasion of the presentation of Sun & Sea - 9 July 2022

Sensing the Planet: A Black Atlantic symposium

Black Atlantic: a cultural partnership at the intersection of race, art, ecology and climate justice, co-established by UCL's SPRC, Serpentine Galleries, Royal Court Theatre and Dartington Trust

Black Atlantic

A weekend of public programming where participants are invited to consider how far racial equity and inclusion can serve as creative tactics for the imagination of just and sustainable planetary futures here and now.

Open City

A season of decolonial art and public programming presented by Radical Ecology and partners through the autumn of 2023 that invites artists, activists and thinkers from across south-west England to listen, walk and dream together as we explore the essential role of inclusive civic spaces in creating just and sustainable planetary futures here and now.