
In what ways is knowledge--and ignorance--implicated in social injustice, oppression and domination?
How can and do social researchers contribute (knowingly, intentionally or otherwise!) to epistemic injustice and oppression, whether through research design, how they select, gather and interpret participants and their testimonies, or through citational practices and other forms of knowledge (re) production?
What critical lenses and perspectives ought we apply to concepts like epistemic injustice, epistemic oppression, and epistemologies of ignorance?
What can social researchers do to counteract these forces, and instead direct their energies and attention towards epistemic justice, resistance, and liberation?

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.
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].




