David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, author, presenter and BAFTA winning film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, the author of several books and a columnist for the Observer, The Voice and BBC History Magazine, also writing for the Guardian and the New Statesman. He presents the long-running BBC history series A House Through Time and wrote and presented the multi-award winning BBC series Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners. He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Black British History and in 2019 was awarded an OBE for services to history and community integration. Black and British was longlisted for the Orwell Prize, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Prize and won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize. A children's edition, Black and British: A Short, Essential History was published in 2020.

David’s strident and outspoken views on the importance of racial equity, fairness and social justice are well known and perfectly align with BBI’s ethos. David’s willingness to lend support to BBI by becoming its first patron, bolsters the team and provides the knowledge and reach to remove the systemic, structural and institutional barriers, preventing people of Black African descent, from achieving their full potential. Realising this objective, not only leads to a more progressive society, it enables the UK’s Black community to make a greater contribution to the UK’s economic performance.