Rana Osman
Mission & Core Focus
SOAS Black PhD Society is a new student-led Initiative created to support Black doctoral researchers who experience isolation, underrepresentation, limited resources and lack of institutional power within UK higher education. Its mission is to build academic support, community and political engagement for Black PhD students, while creating a lasting network that can outlive the founding committee. Formally constituted through the SOAS Students’ Union in July 2025, the Society is led by a four-person elected committee with defined roles, including president, secretary, treasurer and welfare or wellbeing officer.
Initiative Key Achievement
The strongest achievement so far is the creation of a committed founding team and the securing of a multi-year institutional partnership with SOAS’s Equalities and Internationalisation programme. Starting as four Black PhD students with shared frustration but no previous experience of running an Initiative, the committee developed a shared vision around academic support, community building and political engagement. Over several meetings, they produced a concept note, costed budget and clear case for the gap they wanted to fill.
