The John Collins Annual Lecture 2022 |‘The Sacrifice of Isaac’: From Caravaggio to Bob Marley

This event is open to the general public.

The John Collins Society was established in 2012 to honour the work and witness of this one-time chaplain of Oriel College. It exists to encourage Oriel students to explore the evolving relationship between Christianity and contemporary cultural, political, and scientific concerns. It also seeks to promote social responsibility among all members of the College community.

Each year, the Chaplain invites a figure of public prominence to deliver a lecture addressing some aspect of the relationship between Christianity and contemporary social and intellectual life. As part of this annual event, the speaker also meets with students informally to discuss his or her subject, to stimulate commitment to social responsibility, and become acquainted with the Oriel community at large.

About the Speaker

Speaker: Dr Tony Sewell CBE, chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities and director of Generating Genius

Dr Tony Sewell CBE is Chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.

Dr Tony Sewell CBE is an international education consultant who is head of ‘Generating Genius’, a ground-breaking charity which works to ensure that talented students from BAME backgrounds are positioned to excel in STEM careers.

He has extensive experience in the Education sector, training first to be a teacher at Sussex University and then working for many years in some of London’s most challenging schools. It was in this period that he worked on his seminal PhD ‘Black masculinities and schooling’ which led to several key publications.

Dr Sewell helped with the transformation of education in Hackney as part of the team that set up the Learning Trust and the Mossbourne School. This work had national significance given that it was the flagship of the Academy movement. Dr Sewell then went on to set up the charity ‘Generating Genius’. The charity has successfully given young people from disadvantaged backgrounds a route to top universities.

In 2013 Dr Sewell led the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s Education Inquiry into London Schools. This resulted in the London Schools Excellence Fund, a programme that helped London schools to achieve the top grades for their students.

Amongst his accomplishments Dr Sewell has been an international consultant in education for the World Bank and Commonwealth Secretariat, he’s served as a board member of the Youth Justice Board for England & Wales and he was formerly a columnist for the Voice newspaper- publishing widely on race, masculinities, Black history and Education.

Dr Sewell was awarded a CBE in 2016 for his work in Education.