The social, cultural and economic impacts of the pandemic on ethnic and racialised groups in the UK

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The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown existing patterns of ethnic inequality in Britain into sharp relief, highlighting the vulnerability of ethnic and racialized communities not only in terms of poor health, but across a range of social and economic arenas. The Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) has pioneered innovative, policy relevant and impactful multi-disciplinary and mixed-methods social research on ethnic inequality since 2012. Building on this track record, and on new research on the pandemic, the programme will examine the impact of the crisis on ethnic and racialized people and communities, in the context of Brexit, an economic downturn and the increased awareness of racial inequality in the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests, and the rise of racist and anti-racist activism. The programme offers new insights into key policy areas highlighted as concerns as the pandemic has progressed: health inequalities and ageing populations; housing and welfare; education, employment and policing; cultural politics, activism and resilience. The projects employ innovative quantitative and qualitative methods to examine emergent forms of ethnic inequality at multiple scales, from the household and community (micro), institutional (meso), to economic and demographic change (macro). The programme includes work packages which use a survey and the new 2021 census data to explore emerging patterns of racial and ethnic disadvantage related to the pandemic. It will also track the impact of Covid-19 on both physical and mental health of racialized groups, with a focus on older and vulnerable migrant communities. This work will identify gaps in our understanding of the vulnerability of racialized groups and ethnic minorities to Covid-19 and identify routes to filling these gaps, including linking data and the need for the collection of new data. Work packages will explore the impact of austerity and Covid-19 on housing inequalities in specific places as well as tracing the impact on labour market inequalities and their routes in education. The use of algorithms in education and policing will be explored. There will also be examination of the nature of memorialising and mourning in the wake of the pandemic in the context of new forms of community and political activism. The projects foreground the intersection of ethnicity with divisions around migration and citizenship status; the role of gender, religion and age; local/community, regional, sub-national and national level differences; the engagement of ethnic minorities with key institutions and trust in these institutions. The programme will work in partnership with key public and private sector, government and NGO organisations to maximise the reach and impact of its work. This will include a programme of events highlighting the research, continuation of the CoDE covid briefings series and communication on social media, through mainstream media, and in blogs and the website.