Reflections on Mentoring, Advocacy and Black Women's Leadership
Subject: Celebrating Black History Month 2026 Keynote Lecture (28th October 2026) – Professor Florence Ayisi (Award Winning Filmmaker & Professor of International Documentary film, University of South Wales)
Body:
Dear Colleagues and Students,
We are proud to announce a keynote lecture as part of Swansea University’s Black History Month 2026 celebrations, themed Honouring Our Communities. This event will feature Professor Florence Ayisi, an award-winning filmmaker whose work celebrates Black women’s voices and explores representation, advocacy, and community leadership.
Event Title: Making Space, Creating Change: Reflections on Mentoring, Advocacy and Black Women's Leadership
Speaker: Professor Florence Ayisi (Professor of International Documentary film, University of South Wales)
Host: Dr Adesola Ademiloye (Co-chair, Swansea International Race Equality Network – SIREN)
Register here: https://siren-bhm2026.eventbrite.com
Date and time: Wednesday, 28th October 2026 (1:30pm - 3:00pm)
Venue: Global Lounge, Fulton House, Swansea University Singleton Campus
Summary: In this Black History Month keynote, Professor Florence Ayisi reflects on her nearly three decades of experience in UK higher education as an educator, scholar-filmmaker and researcher, exploring how mentoring, advocacy and collaborative practice can create opportunities for others and contribute to meaningful social change.
Drawing on her experiences as a Co-Investigator on the UKRI-funded Co-POWeR project, she considers the value of Legacy Mentorship Networks; especially how recognising potential, sharing opportunities and supporting professional development can enable individuals to grow, contribute and, in turn, empower others. She reflects on how these experiences have strengthened her capacity to collaborate with diverse communities nationally and internationally.
Through selected examples from her documentary film practice, she explores the potential of documentary filmmaking as a form of advocacy: challenging dominant representations, amplifying marginalised voices, contributing to policy change, and generating wider community engagement and social impact.
Aligned with Black History Month 2026 and its theme, “Honouring Our Communities”, the keynote offers personal reflections on leadership as a relational and collective practice, grounded in mentoring, ethical collaboration, shared knowledge, and a commitment to creating opportunities for others to be heard and seen. Organised by Swansea International Race Equality Network (SIREN).
Biography:
Florence Ayisi is Professor of International Documentary Film at the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries, University of South Wales, where she has worked in higher education for nearly three decades. An award-winning scholar-filmmaker and researcher, her work explores documentary representation, African women's agency, cultural identity, social justice, decoloniality, community wellbeing, resilient cultural heritage and social change.
Her research combines participatory documentary filmmaking, creative practice and transnational collaboration, with a commitment to amplifying marginalised voices and challenging dominant representations. She was a Co-Investigator on the UKRI-funded Co-POWeR research consortium, which explored practices of wellbeing and resilience among racialised communities in Britain. She has made several documentaries in Cameroon, Tanzania and in the UK.
Through her teaching, research, filmmaking and international partnerships, she is committed to fostering ethical collaboration, supporting emerging creative practitioners and creating opportunities for inclusive knowledge production and community engagement with a focus on creating positive narratives.
Join us as we celebrate Black excellence and leadership. Thank you!
Best regards,
Dr Adesola Ademiloye and Professor Lella Nouri
Co-chairs, Swansea International Race Equality Network (SIREN)
Swansea University