FREE ONLINE WEBINAR FOR SOCIAL RESEARCHERS

Ignorance, Agnotology & Epistemic Injustice: An Introduction for Social Researchers

Expand your conceptual toolkit with our accessible introduction to epistemologies of ignorance and how they help us understand historical erasure, denialism, whitewashing, mystification, disavowal, and much more.

JOIN THE LIVE WEBINAR

Thursday 9 July at 1pm BST

FREE ONLINE WEBINAR FOR SOCIAL RESEARCHERS

Ignorance, Agnotology and Epistemic Injustice: An Introduction for Social Researchers

Expand your conceptual toolkit with our accessible introduction to epistemologies of ignorance and how they help us understand historical erasure, denialism, whitewashing, mystification, disavowal, and much more.

JOIN THE LIVE WEBINAR

Thursday 9 July 2026 at 1pm London-time (BST)

Curious about how ignorance contributes to injustice?

What is the interdisciplinary field of agnotology?

What do either of these have to do with epistemic injustice?

And why should social researchers care?

What You'll Learn

In this 90-minute webinar plus Q&A, we'll cover:

  1. How philosophical analyses of ignorance can help us make sense of knowledge-related social injustices like historical erasure, whitewashing, denial, or disavowal.

  2. What 'agnotology' is, along with an overview of some of its major figures and their key contributions.

  3. Where epistemologies of ignorance and agnotology overlap with epistemic injustice.

  4. How ignorance-oriented analysis can help us make sense of cases ranging from #WhyIsMyCurriculumWhite, #RhodesMustFall and more recent attacks on Black Studies and Critical Race Theory in the US and the UK, the attempt to ban books on LGBTQIA+ experiences from school libraries, to the systemic marginalisation of disabled people in workplaces.

Need some expert philosophical support exploring concepts that might be crucial to progressing your social research?

Join Dr Zara Bain for a free online webinar on Thursday 9 July at 1pm London-time (BST) to delve into ignorance-oriented analysis, its relation to epistemic injustice, and why it's a useful conceptual framework for social research.

Your host

Dr Zara Bain

Founder of Academic Audio Transcription

Honorary Research Associate, Philosophy @ University of Bristol

Secrecy, Power & Ignorance Network (SPIN) Research Fellow

Zara Bain is an expert in social justice and social entrepreneur helping researchers, educators, and online businesses make knowledge--and knowledge-creation--more accessible.

Zara has a PhD in social & political philosophy and social epistemology from the University of Bristol, with particular emphasis on epistemologies of ignorance and epistemic oppression as features of socio-political systems like white supremacy and disability/ableism, as well as the work of late Jamaican-American political philosopher, Charles W. Mills (author of various books, most famously The Racial Contract).

Zara's work has been published in numerous prestigious international volumes, including the Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies, as well as featured in The Guardian, The Times Higher Educational Supplement and The Philosopher 1923. She is also co-author of the world's first truly intersectional general introduction to philosophy, Philosophy: A Crash Course.

As a disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent researcher, Zara founded research-specialist transcription and closed-captioning social enterprise, Academic Audio Transcription, in 2017, after realising that if she wanted flexible, fairly-paid remote work accessible from bed or while housebound during medical leave from her doctoral studies, she'd need to build it herself.

She lives in West London with her partner and two little boys, and in her spare time can be found walking in the woods, experimenting with new recipes, or volunteering at her local city farm.

Will this event be recorded?

What accessibility measures will be in place?

  • The event will take place over Zoom and the main seminar itself will be recorded, although we will turn the recording off for the Q&A.

  • All of our events include automated live captions as standard, although we recognise that these are an imperfect solution.

  • There will not be Sign Language Interpreting available at this event due to budgetary constraints, but we aim to include BSL interpreting at future events as soon as possible.

  • The replay will be emailed to everyone who signs up to the event, with Zoom-native automated closed-captions, within 24 hours of the event. We will also endeavour to share a PDF copy of any slides, including image descriptions/alt text.

  • Around 7-10 days after the event, we'll update the replay with high-quality, accessibility-first closed captions alongside a publication-ready transcript of the event (both supplied by Academic Audio Transcription).

  • If you have any questions about additional accessibility measures, please email us at [email protected].

Nice words about your host,

Academic Audio Transcription

LinkedIn Comment from Dr Dyi Dieuwetje Huijg, which reads: 'You're too kind - thank you for all your amazing work!! I can't recommend working with Zara Bain PhD and Academic Audio Transcription high enough. When I work with colleagues on collab writing projects we sometimes save automated captions, and they're a disaster. In contrast, the transcripts from AAT are so accurate and easy to work with!! And I loved that they used all my directions for eg transcribing non-verbal communication- including silences and laughter - too! Because, all of that is so important for making sense of the interviews! But also just on a practical level, they were always understanding and accommodating when I ran on crip time. Was a pleasure to work with them and would do it again in a next project! I'm so thankful for The Leverhulme Trust for making this (financially) possible.
Screenshot of testimonial which reads: "AAT Was so lovely to work with! I had a complex project and a limited budget. The team at AAT were very thoughtful in helping me work through this. I was also glad to be working with a group of folks who support often-marginalized people. I will definitely be using AAT again in my qualitative work and recommending them to others."
Screenshot testimonial reads: "Q: Would you recommend AAT's services to others seeking transcription or closed caption services? Why or why not? A: Yes. Definitely. AAT is great to work with, the team is knowledgeable and collaborative, and the standard of captioning and transcription has been consistently excellent. I also think that AAT are facilitating an ethical approach to providing accessibility accommodations, by providing fairly paid work for disabled people."
Screenshot of testimonial which reads: "I am deaf and low vision, so I depend on captioning and transcription to access qualitative data. I felt I could trust these transcripts - automatic captioning or AI transcription can be okay but not great - knowing that a real person was listening and working with the audio gave me confidence that the data I was reading was accurate."
Screenshot of testimonial which reads: "I worked with AAT to transcribe a series of interviews and focus groups for a research project Il led. I learned about them through word of mouth from another researcher in my field--and I was so glad I did! Throughout the process, AAT staff were friendly, communicative, and flexible. Moreover, the quality of the final product was always excellent. I particularly appreciated the variety of services and price points AAT offers, which makes them a good fit for a wide range of project budgets and quality control needs. I also felt good about working with a company that aligned with my research team's values in terms of accessibility. I've recommended AAT to several colleagues for their own research projects and will continue to do so. Gabe Murchison, PhD, MPH (they/she/he), Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health

Save your seat today to get expert support expanding your theoretical toolkit to include ignorance and agnotology.

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