Ethnic minority life: Experts give fullest picture yet

One of the most complete insights into ethnic minority life in contemporary England and Wales is to be drawn together at a University of Manchester event this week (30 October).

Thirteen reports by world renowned academics from the University, cover everything from where minorities live, where they come from, what languages they speak, what they do, how healthy they are and even how British they feel.

The series of briefings are funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and produced by the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE), which is itself funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

CoDE, which is the UK's largest research centre on ethnicity, jointly based at The University of Manchester and University of Glasgow, is also being officially launched today at the event.

The analyses all use recently published data from the 2011 Census.

CoDE Director, Professor James Nazroo from The University of Manchester, said "An unequivocal message has emerged from these 13 Census briefings: as a society we are becoming increasingly ethnically diverse, but social inequalities have continued and are striking in 2011.

"And sadly, negative misconceptions about the lives of people in ethnic minority groups are still common. But our work has challenged them by showing what exists in reality.

"We show, for example that segregation is not increasing and that ethnic minority people in fact are as likely to feel as British as everyone else – and this might not sit comfortably with mainstream opinion.

"But we also show how if you're from an ethnic minority group, you are still likely to have unequal access in housing, employment and good health.

"This important work will extend into deeper analysis of national data and four case study areas: Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow and the London Borough of Newham."

Professor Ludi Simpson, who oversaw the briefings, said: "The inequalities ethnic minorities face differ wildly from the situation that some politicians imagine.

"So this conference will give us an opportunity to talk through the policy implications of our findings with other experts in the field from government and third sector organisations."

The event will feature presentations from leading academics in the field, including Professors Simpson and Nazroo and Dr Nissa Finney.