About Our Research
BT Global
Our Mission
To develop and implement Black led evidence-based research and policy to undo racial inequities in health outcomes and care, focusing on mental health inequalities among the Black community in the UK and globally.
BT Global
Background and Rationale
The Black Thrive Research Institute and Observatory (RIO) was established in 2021 to become an authoritative Black voice on data, and to develop the collective conceptual resources required to generate meaningful systems change. Through Black-led research insights, RIO aims to counteract the consistency of racial inequities in health.
BT Global
Black Thrive Research Institute’s Response to Consistent Racial Inequities in Health and Healthcare
RIO departs from understanding racism and racialisation as embedded in nation states and institutions including healthcare. To aid in dismantling racism and promoting antiracism, RIO focuses on:
1. Conducting research that produces high-quality data and evidence, and subsequently antiracist policies and interventions through a Black lens. This is to influence policy and public debate about issues concerning the Black community, focusing on health and healthcare. High quality data is inclusive, comprehensive, and contextualised—it should accurately capture the diversity within Black communities and reflect the full range of Black experiences, considering intersections of gender, socioeconomic background, location, and more. It must also be reliable and transparent, grounded in rigorous methodologies that are repeatable and open to scrutiny, and ethically collected with informed consent and active community involvement. Importantly, good data should be action-oriented and provide insights that inform clear, effective policy reform and interventions that can improve the lives of Black communities.
2. Strengthening our collaboration within and without Black Thrive. This entails working with the community assemblies to provide support and training to enhance research abilities, as well as networking and collaborating with academic institutes and other research and policy making institutes.
Academic Publications
Coloniality, whiteness and systemic racism in Sweden: An email conversation. In Decolonial Sweden. Routledge.
Racialized migrant women’s discrimination in maternal care: A scoping review. International Journal for Equity in Health, 24(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02384-8
5: Are we there yet? Co-production and Black Thrive’s journey towards race equity in mental health. https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/display/book/9781447361763/ch005.xml
Decolonizing Swedish health care: Challenges and ways forward. In Decolonial Sweden. Routledge.
Healthcare staff’s racialized talk: The perpetuation of racism in healthcare. Social Science & Medicine, 117085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117085
International Learning Initiative Part 2: Enhancing Antiracism Awareness Among Nursing Students in Sweden and the USA. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 39(3), e70067. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.70067
Employment support for Black people with long-term health conditions: A systematic narrative review of UK studies. Journal of Mental Health, 33(2), 274–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2023.2182410
Epistemic injustice and mental health research: A pragmatic approach to working with lived experience expertise. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1114725
