Speakers
Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng
Workshop
This workshop invites participants to reflect on their own paths while exploring Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng’s holistic but unconventional journey into professorship. Through discussion and engagement, she will explore how auto/biographical approaches in Sociology can be a tool for student success, social impact, and challenging dominant narratives around race, education, and identity. The session will highlight her research collaborations, policy contributions, and lived experience as a scholar who never fit the conventional mould, offering inspiration and practical insights for those forging their own unconventional academic journeys.
Professor Louise Owusu-Kwarteng is a proud British-Ghanaian Londoner with roots in Nottingham. She is a Professor in Applied Sociology and Associate Dean for Student Success in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Greenwich, where she has worked since 2005. Her research challenges negative narratives around Black academic attainment, with additional interests in ethnicity, identity, and sociological auto/biography. Currently, she is collaborating with staff and students from the university’s BA (Hons) Animation programme on an animated auto/biographical exploration of her journey to professorship, entitled Our Kid from the North of the South of the River, which will be shown at this event. Between 2018 and 2022, she served as the institution’s inaugural Undergraduate Research Director, overseeing 25 staff-student collaborative projects and sharing best practice internationally, including at the Council of Undergraduate Research in the US. Prior to this, she successfully led the BA and Combined Honours Sociology programmes. Her research and leadership inform her teaching, student support, and work as an Associate Dean.
Outside of academia, her interests are just as diverse. Her brothers often remark on her questionable bass-playing skills and her wide-ranging music taste—some call it eclectic, others less kindly describe it as chaotic. Her Spotify and YouTube playlists feature everything from late 60s African highlife and 90s rave and hip hop to 2010s bass house. A lifelong Nottingham Forest supporter since the age of four, she is thrilled with the club’s progress and has her sights set on Arsenal. She also has an impressive collection of sparkly trainers and bold jewellery, ensuring she is always easy to spot.
Shana Owen has over 15 years of experience in business development, digital transformation, operational management and marketing, across various industries including pharmaceutical and healthcare. With a strong foundation in applied health and social sciences, Shana is deeply committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the life sciences sector. Her expertise in AI, big data, and digital innovation complements her passion for creating opportunities that drive meaningful change.
Beyond her professional achievements, Shana is an advocate for collaboration and mentoring, supporting individuals and organisations to reach their full potential. She also has a love for art, particularly the works of Banksy, and is dedicated to building a more inclusive and sustainable future in science.