Talking diversity, equality and inclusion with HRH The Prince of Wales

Yesterday four AMOS brothers were part of a round table discussion at University College, Oxford hosted by Baroness Amos of Brondesbury with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as the guest of honour.

Amos alumni and ambassador Isaiah Wellington-Lynn, alongside current Amos scholars Wayne Gouro, Kwabena Osei and Leon Gidigbi discussed key issues surrounding access to Oxford and Cambridge for underrepresented groups and shared their own personal journeys of applying to and being at Oxford. The Prince took great interest in understanding their varied perspectives and the challenges they faced which included everything from misconceptions of Oxford, to lack of guidance and encouragement.

They also reflected on critical things that have helped them on their journeys such as the UNIQ Oxford program and The AMOS Bursary, and they explored ideas of what could be done to improve access further.

Isaiah’s PhD research paper “The anthropology of belonging, meritocracy and privilege” was of particular interest as Prince Charles is currently thinking a lot about how to leverage his network to better support young people pre, during and post-university, and those who take alternative paths. Isaiah said of the visit, “He was very inquisitive and managed to get me to talk about a lot of different things from basketball, my £64,000 crowdfunding campaign and my upbringing to the London Interdisciplinary School, the challenges of siloed education, and a university’s duty to validate contemporary jobs and career paths.”

Yesterday these young men left the residence of Baroness Amos feeling privileged to have had a seat at such an influential table alongside the future monarch. Today they got their heads back down and continued the necessary work to build the tables that they can invite their younger AMOS brothers and sisters to sit at in the future.

When future kings meet the future king great things can happen!

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