ACTIVISTS will get a £2,000 university budget to raise awareness of gender and sexuality issues on campus.

The University of Brighton has appointed its first ever “activists in residence”.

Ven Paldano and Shona Raine are from the Queer Trans Intersex People of Colour (QTIPoC) Narratives Collective in the city.

Their mission is to “harness disruptive ideas”, “open debate” and to “redress inequalities and social injustices of the 21st century”.

It is organised by the university’s Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender and Radical Futures.

Centre director Dr Olu Jenzen said: “Ven Paldano and Shona Raine’s project has real potential for cultural and societal impact both locally, nationally and beyond, and we very much look forward to fruitful dialogue and knowledge exchange.

“The hope is that our community will find themselves in these hidden stories and find empowerment and inspiration in the fact that people of colour have found ways to resist subjugation in a world where much of our known histories are about succumbing.

“The Activists-in-Residence will also work on how to achieve more accessible private and public space for QTIPoC.”

Yoga and psychology student Shona Raine is also a writer and poet for the narratives collective.

She deals with themes of identity, prejudice, myths and mental health, using poems, art and yoga as therapy.

Her aim is to “support people of colour fighting to carve out new lives and possibilities”.

Ven, meanwhile, is a “non-binary trans-masculine queer person of colour” as well as being an entrepreneur, architectural assistant, and community organiser.

The QTIPoC Narratives Collective was co-founded by Ven.

Previously Ven worked in property renovations and was a restaurateur, but is now focusing on “the power and application of craft, skill sharing, community mental health, and wellbeing”.

The university said: “They will receive the £2,000 budget to work for between one and two months on a project exploring the ways folklore has subverted oppressive systems and institutions that have silenced historical cultures of indigenous gender fluidity.”

Bosses hope to boost connections of activists with academics at the university.

Dr Jenzen said the Activists-In-Residence will “use the university’s resources to develop their activist thinking, work, or projects, and to contribute to the university’s intellectual and political culture” and hopes it will “directly engage the university’s staff and students”.

Applications for the role on sexuality and gender were welcomed from a “variety of perspectives”, Dr Jenzen said, and added the centre was happy with the interest it received.

Dr Nick McGlynn, who chaired the selection panel, said: “This was such an excellent proposal, pushing the bounds of scholarly and activist work in really interesting and challenging directions. It brought together multiple marginalised communities and offered a fully realised creative vision of the proposed activities.”