The Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) extends its sincere thanks to its Board Members, staff, partners, and guests who attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 10 April 2026.
The meeting was chaired by Foysol Choudhury MBE (Former member of the Scottish Parliament), whose continued leadership, guidance, and vision remain instrumental to the organisation’s progress and impact.
The AGM commenced with a moving tribute to Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE, KT, recognising his extraordinary contributions and enduring legacy. As an honorary member and one of ELREC’s founding figures in the 1970s, Sir Geoff’s influence has been deeply woven into the organisation’s history. Attendees observed a minute’s silence in his memory.
The event featured a series of insightful presentations from guest speakers. David Clark of Police Scotland provided important updates on policing efforts and highlighted ongoing work to address hate crime. Researchers Lucien Staddon Foster and Sholen Macpherson presented findings from their collaborative research with ELREC, focusing on the experiences of Black and racially minoritised communities in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
Further details from these presentations are available below:
ELREC was also pleased to welcome Councillors Cammy Day, Katrina Faccenda, and Tim Pogson, providing an opportunity to share the organisation’s ongoing work and strengthen engagement with local leadership.
Over the past year, ELREC has delivered a wide range of projects and initiatives aimed at promoting equality and diversity. These include women’s wellbeing programmes, energy advice services, environmental projects, community workshops, creative initiatives, and cycling programmes, among others.
Despite facing capacity challenges, ELREC remains steadfast in its commitment to empowering communities, building skills, and breaking down barriers. Through continued collaboration and partnership, the organisation is dedicated to fostering inclusion and creating equal opportunities for all.
The AGM concluded with a vote of thanks from Chair Foysol Choudhury MBE and Company Secretary Rajnish Singh.
To read the full 2024–2025 Annual Report, please visit:
The Council, in partnership with the independent Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review (ESCLR) Implementation Group, has been awarded £239,746 to progress the ESCLR’s recommendations.
Published in 2022 and led by Sir Geoff Palmer, the ESCLR report examined how Edinburgh’s connections to slavery and colonialism are represented in its street names, monuments, and public spaces, and how this history continues to shape present-day inequalities.
The funding will accelerate progress on the outstanding recommendations, including public engagement, education, and the development of future approaches to heritage, interpretation, and commemoration.
Key planned activities include:
Recruiting a full-time Project Officer and forming an Advisory Group
Hosting a Decolonising Edinburgh Conference and an open symposium
Developing digital platforms to support engagement and transparency
Creating a small touring exhibition on diversity in Edinburgh’s cultural and heritage activity
Delivering a community research project and a series of consultation workshops on built heritage
Piloting learning resources for schools and anti-racist educators
Coordinating annual stakeholder meetings and a digital campaign around UNESCO’s Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
As part of its commitment, the Council has also provided £10,000 and significant in-kind support to help realise the project’s ambitions.
Council Leader Jane Meagher said:“Thanks to National Lottery players, this funding marks an important step forward for Edinburgh. If we are to be the inclusive and welcoming city our residents expect, we must continue to confront the uncomfortable parts of our past.
“Whilst we’ve issued a civic apology for Edinburgh’s historic role in sustaining slavery and colonialism, the project allows us to go further and become an example for how a city can face up to its slavery and colonial legacy.
“I’m pleased to see work moving ahead and look forward to the progress it will bring.”
Chair of the Implementation Group, Irene Mosota, said:“On behalf of the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Implementation Group, I thank the National Lottery Heritage Fund for accepting our bid and ideas, and for this funding, and the City of Edinburgh Council for its continued support.
“Edinburgh is acknowledging the impact of its past and recognising that the legacy of slavery and colonialism continues to shape inequalities today and into the future.
“This funding will enable us to work with communities and institutions across the city in open and honest reflection and dialogue, not to reopen old wounds, but to help us understand our shared responsibility and how we move forward together with compassion, equality, and justice.
“We recognise the trust placed in us to carry forward the work begun by Sir Geoff Palmer, and we hope this work will offer a meaningful example of how cities across the UK can address historic legacies with care and integrity.”
Caroline Clark The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland said: “Thanks to National Lottery players our funding will support the City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with the independent Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Implementation Group, to take a considered and collaborative approach to this important work.
“Edinburgh’s historic links to the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism are engrained in the city’s heritage.
“This project will develop ways for the city to engage thoughtfully with its past, contextualising and acknowledging these parts of the city’s story.”
I am heartbroken by the passing of my dear friend, father figure, and mentor, Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE KT (writes FOYSOL CHOUDHURY).
Geoff wasn’t just my dad’s good friend; he was a father figure to me. From my teenage years, he took me under his wing, offering wisdom, guidance, and a sense of purpose that helped shape the person I am today.
He led by example, with a quiet strength and unwavering commitment to truth, justice, and humanity. His intellect was unmatched, yet it was his kindness and humility that truly defined him.
Sir Geoff inspired me every step of the way, not just through his ground-breaking work and public service but through the way he lived with courage, compassion, and a deep-rooted sense of integrity. It is a huge personal loss, and I know many across Scotland and beyond are feeling the same pain.
Geoff’s legacy is vast, and while there is so much to say about his contributions to equality, science, civil rights and education, for me, his greatest gift was the way he made people feel seen, valued, and empowered.
My sincere condolences to his family & all who knew and admired him. I hope they find comfort in knowing how deeply he touched the lives of so many and how his spirit lives on in each of us who had the honour of knowing him.
I am forever grateful for the memories, conversations, and unconditional support and love he gave me over many years. I will miss him more than words can express. May he rest in peace, and may his legacy continue to inspire generations to come.
A wonderful human, gone but never to be forgotten.
National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to have acquired a fascinating portrait of renowned human rights activist and scientist, Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, created by Scottish artist, Graham Fagen.
The contemporary video portrait is available to view for free at the Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. Filmed in the building’s impressive Great Hall, the portrait is now on display in the ambulatory. In the compelling 19-minute video, Graham Fagen truly captures Sir Geoff’s story and spirit.
Artist Fagen was inspired by Sir Geoff, after seeing and hearing him speak at public events. Sir Geoff’s warmth and compassion, while expressing his life experiences and views on contemporary Scotland and its historic relationship with the transatlantic slave trade, motivated Fagen to create a contemporary portrait that captured the sitter’s essence and personality.
In this single channel video portrait, Fagen captures Sir Geoff talking about his life, from growing up in Jamaica, to becoming an esteemed academic in Edinburgh. We are shown close ups of a bracelet adorned with the Jamaican flag, which Sir Geoff wears proudly on his wrist showing his connection to his homeland.
Fagen’s portrait breaks the boundaries of what we think of as traditional portraiture. He wanted to show how Sir Geoff can command our attention with his humility and consideration as he engages us in a brutal history with harsh truths.
Sir Geoff’s research experience as a life scientist enables him to evidence, in a matter-of-fact way, the truths of the history that connects Jamaica, the country of his birth, with Scotland, the country of his home, via the experience of the Windrush generation. By working in collaboration with Sir Geoff, Fagen has made a work that expands our perceptions and offers new thought and knowledge on the complexities of portraiture.
From seeing and hearing Sir Geoff speak, Fagen wanted to capture his personality in the portrait – his voice; his autobiography, his thoughts, his hopes – as well as a likeness: his head, eyes, nose, ears and mouth. To bring the soundtrack to life Fagen worked with reggae musician Ghetto Priest, with whom he had previously collaborated on The Slave’s Lament.
Sir Geoff Palmer OBE is a life-long human rights activist and historian of Scotland’s relations with the Caribbean. His story is a remarkable one. After leaving Jamaica for London in 1955 aged 14, he attended school in the city, eventually continuing his studies at Leicester, Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities.
As a scientist, his research at the Brewing Research Foundation from 1968–77 led to the discovery of the barley abrasion process – which makes the malting process more efficient. For this research, he was awarded the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction in 1998. In 1989, Sir Geoff became the first Black university professor in Scotland.
He is the author of a critically acclaimed book, The Enlightenment Abolished: Citizens of Britishness, in which he argues for maintaining but reinterpreting public monuments associated with the transatlantic slave trade.
Graham Fagen is one of the UK’s foremost contemporary artists. In video, performance, photography, sculpture and text, he creates works which explore how national and personal identity is created by, and is a response to, one’s cultural contexts.
Although his works draw on varied references and embrace all manner of materials and media, they all, in some way, touch on the role of society, history and cultural turning points in the lives of both individuals and communities.
Whether made for a gallery or in the public realm, Fagen’s works are frequently developed over time, involving the collaboration and participation of others. Fagen’s points of departure include the history and effect of the transatlantic slave trade, the cultural influences of music, nature and the symbolic power of flowers, urban planning and regeneration.
Born in Glasgow, Fagen studied Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art from 1984-88, followed by Art and Architecture at Kent Institute of Art & Design from 1989-90. Alongside his own work, he is a Professor of Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
Exhibiting this portrait will enable a public sharing of the history, legacy and humanity of Sir Geoff’s human rights work. It will stand as a valuable marker and evidence of the contemporary relevance of the shared history between Scotland and the Caribbean.
Graham Fagen said: “I was extremely honoured to work with Sir Geoff in order to make an artwork that shares his life and work.
“Geoff’s life is one that has profoundly influenced and shaped the world we live in today.”
Professor Sir Geoff Palmer said: “We cannot change the past but we can change consequences such as racism for the better using education.
“I hope my portrait can help bring awareness to these matters.”
Sir John Leighton, Director-General of National Galleries of Scotland said: “We are proud to display Graham’s wonderfully moving portrait of Sir Geoff Palmer.
“This work recognises Sir Geoff’s many achievements and is an important acquisition that we are delighted to welcome into Scotland’s national collection.”
