Grounded in community, driven by care.
Core Team
We’re a team of researchers, facilitators, strategists, and storytellers who believe knowledge grows strongest in relationship. We blend academic rigour, cultural insight, and creative practice, bringing together research and learning with film, audio, and design to make change visible and lasting.
Founder & Director
Dr Tamanda Walker
Tamanda is a sociologist, researcher, and strategist whose work sits at the intersection of equity, learning, and storytelling.
She leads Roots & Rigour’s research and learning partnerships, supporting organisations and communities to surface insight, build power, and move systems toward justice.
Her practice is rooted in Black feminist, decolonial and participatory methodologies, combining rigour with empathy, and theory with action.
Founder & Creative Director
Aiwan Obinyan
Aiwan is a BAFTA-award winning sound designer, filmmaker, and creative producer whose work bridges art, activism, and systems change.
She leads AiAi Studios – the creative engine that powers Roots & Rigour’s storytelling, film, and media outputs.
Aiwan’s practice combines visual storytelling with social research, using sound, image, and narrative to translate complex ideas into stories that move hearts and minds.
Our ecosystem
We co-direct Roots & Rigour alongside our sister company AiAi Studios, working within a wider circle of collaborators who bring specialist knowledge, lived experience, and creative skill. Rather than operating as a hierarchy, we work as an ecosystem, shaping each partnership around what the work truly needs. Our roles shift from project to project, but our commitment stays the same: to work with care, curiosity, and integrity, and to turn insight into story in ways that connect people and move ideas into culture.
01.
Award-winning podcast blending culture, business, and lived experience.
Rigour & Flow is the award-winning podcast from Roots & Rigour, where lived experience meets evidence and intellect meets intimacy.
Hosted by Aiwan Obinyan and Dr Tamanda Walker, it’s a space for deep conversation, laughter, and critical reflection – exploring how power, work, and care shape the way we live, love, and lead.
Each episode weaves story, voice, and research into dialogue that’s as rigorous as it is human.
02.
Creative production studio turning research and insight into story.
AiAi Studios is the creative production partner within the Roots & Rigour ecosystem – translating research, data, and lived experience into powerful films, campaigns, and stories.
Founded by Aiwan Obinyan, the studio blends creative direction, documentary practice, and compelling design to make insight visible and impact tangible.
From concept to screen, AiAi Studios brings imagination and rigour together to tell stories that change culture
