Institute of Race Relations

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an "anti-racist think tank".

Proposed by Sunday Times editor Harry Hodson, the institute began as the Race Relations Unit of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1952. Former Governor of the United Provinces Lord Hailey served as first chairman, while Philip Mason, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, served as its first director. The unit later became the Institute of Race Relations under the chairmanship of Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders. Mason remained as director.

The IRR's objectives as an educational charity are to promote, encourage and support the study and understanding of, and exchange information about, relations between different races and peoples and the conditions in which they live and work; to consider and advise on proposals and endeavours to improve race relations and these conditions; and to promote knowledge on questions related to race relations.

The founding of the IRR can be traced back to a 1950 Chatham House speech by Sunday Times editor Harry Hodson, "Race Relations in the Commonwealth", in which he described Communism and race relations as the two transcendent problems. During its early life, the IRR was influenced in its work and funding by national strategic concerns about the future of Britain's ex-colonies. Conferences were jointly organised with the Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Ford Foundation funded comparative policy-oriented research on the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. Members of the Africa Private Enterprise Group (which included Rio Tinto, Barclays, Unilever et al.) helped to fund IRR research into tropical Africa.

In 1958, in response to "race riots" in Nottingham and Notting Hill, IRR produced the first study of domestic race relations, Colour in Britain by James Wickendon. In 1963, the Nuffield Foundation funded a five-year survey of British race relations, which commissioned 41 pieces of research, and published its findings as Colour and Citizenship by Jim Rose. Philip Mason, who had served as IRR director from 1952, retired in 1970 and was replaced by Professor Hugh Tinker. The IRR, centrally located in Jermyn Street in London’s West End, had more than 30 staff, a full book publishing programme, a library and information service and domestic and international research units.

By the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, a period in which governments had begun to introduce restrictive immigration laws and politician Enoch Powell had made a series of emotive speeches on the subject of racial conflict, the staff and a section of the membership of the IRR began to question the type of research being undertaken at IRR, whether the organisation was in fact as impartial as it claimed to be and if working so closely with politicians and the government could benefit the victims of racism. This brought the staff and ultimately the membership into confrontation with the IRR’s Council. Robin Jenkins, an IRR researcher, criticised the methodology behind Colour and Citizenship, which he described as spying on black people. The Council, which was composed of chief executives from many leading multinational corporations, politicians from the House of Commons and House of Lords, newspaper editors and leading academics, tried to have him sacked and to close down the monthly magazine Race Today, which was accused of bias. But at an extraordinary general meeting of members in April 1972 the Council was outvoted and resigned en masse.

After the change of direction of IRR, neither the corporate sector nor the large foundations were willing to support IRR's work, and the organisation faced a funding crisis. It moved from the West End to a disused warehouse on Pentonville Road, London, N1, where a tiny staff augmented by volunteers continued to run all its services. New sources of funding were found in the World Council of Churches' Programme to Combat Racism, the Methodist Church, the Transnational Institute and local authorities, including the Greater London Council. As a result of a fund-raising drive, the IRR was able in 1984 to purchase an office building in Leeke Street, London Borough of Camden, which has been its home ever since.

Colin Prescod joined the IRR in 1976, becoming its chair in 1980. He served in this role until 2023 when he was replaced by John Narayan.