Beacon Conversation 2026
On 21 October, the College hosted the annual Beacon Conversation and Black History Month Formal Hall. Joe Highmoor (2023, Chemistry) has kindly provided a report of the Beacon Conversation.
The 2026 Beacon Conversation was held on 21 October in the 10 Merton Street Lecture Theatre, preceding the College’s Black History Month Formal Hall. The Beacon Conversation is an opportunity to take stock of the state of academic disciplines as regards questions of epistemic decolonisation. This year the College hosted Professor Patricia Kingori to discuss her work in the field of sociology. The evening’s event was moderated by Dr Lyn Kouadio, Beacon Junior Research Fellow.
Professor Kingori is a highly impactful sociologist and health ethicist who has acted as an adviser to the WHO, Save the Children, and Médecins Sans Frontières, among other organisations. In 2021, Professor Kingori became the youngest Black woman to receive a full professorship in the history of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The Black History Month Formal Hall
In her presentation, Professor Kingori shared her research on Shadow Scholars, discussing themes covered in her Channel 4 documentary of the same name. Shadow scholars are individuals who earn money by writing academic literature for other people online; 72% of these individuals are Kenyan. Professor Kingori explained her initial discovery of this issue, described the unique conditions in Kenya that led to this boom in ghost writing, and shared some real stories from people she had interviewed that really emphasised the moral grey area the industry proved to be. The presentation was rounded out with a reflection on how the academic writing industry is evolving under the advent of AI. Following the presentation there was a Q&A with the audience, where many points of view were discussed about the ripple effects this has on health care, social development and academia in Kenya.
Please find a recording of the Channel 4 Documentary, ‘Shadow Scholars’, below:
You can find out more about the Univ Beacon Programme here.
Published: 4 November 2026