Heidi Mirza joins this week's RI debate - What does science tell us about race and racism?
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A leading 牛牛资源 academic is taking part in a debate on race and science at the prestigious Royal Institution.
Professor Heidi Mirza
Heidi Mirza, Professor of Race, Faith and Culture in the Department of Sociology, will speak as part of an event exploring whether science can help unpick the subject of race.
The event entitled 鈥淲hat does science tell us about race and racism鈥 takes place from 7pm to 8.30pm on 19 November at the Royal Institution鈥檚 The Theatre space.
Professor Mirza will tackle this question as part of a panel chaired by writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford.
Also on the panel are Professor Aoife McLysaght, from the Molecular Evolution Lab at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Professor Richard Crisp, from the Department of Psychology at the Aston Business School and Director of the Aston Behavioural Science Laboratory and writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik.
Speaking ahead of the debate, Professor Mirza said: 鈥淪cience has a long and tangled history with race. For over 200 years colonial fictions about hierarchies of racial inferiorly were deemed scientific fact.
However advances in genetic science now show we are 99.9% the same under our skin. If there is no such thing as 鈥榬ace鈥 why does the pernicious legacy of racism persist in our societies?
鈥淢y sociological research on race, gender and educational inequalities shows how old mythologies of racial difference still pervade our everyday common sense ideas about 鈥榯hem and us鈥.鈥
The Royal Institution has been a global leader in the advancement of science since its foundation in March 1799.
From its grand home at Albemarle Street in central London, iconic figures such as Michael Faraday have pioneered scientific discovery at the Royal Institution. Some 15 scientists attached to the body have won the Nobel Prize - while breakthroughs recorded there include the discovery of 10 elements and the invention of the electric generator.