Institute of Race Relations

Institute of Race Relations
AbbreviationIRR
Formation1958; 66 years ago (1958)
TypeResearch institute, think tank
Location
Chair
John Narayan
Main organ
Council of Management
Websitehttp://www.irr.org.uk

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.[1]

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.

  1. ^ Hodson, Harry (1999). Autobiography.