The Centre for New Ethnicities Research (CNER) brings together staff at the University of East London concerned about issues of race and ethnicity to work on research, education and other common projects. The Centre has since 1991 developed innovative thinking and practice in its field. The Centre was established partly as a response to the emergence of a cultural politics in which hybridity and diaspora, rather than roots and race, had become central themes. The Centre links its academic research to practical interventions in the field of anti-racist work and inter-cultural education with young people living in areas of high racial tension. The Centre’s perspective is interdisciplinary. Their work explores the links between local cultures and communities of East London and global patterns of immigration, settlement, and national identity.