As some of you may already know, this summer our team has taken on three student interns to help with the promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty of Medical Sciences…

I (Georgia Spencer) am one of the two Communications Officers. I have just completed my History undergraduate degree and am continuing my studies at Newcastle University in September with a Masters in Cross-Cultural Communication and International Marketing. So far in my role, I have completely redesigned this blog, to make it more attractive and easier to navigate. I’ve worked on a number of blog posts around Pride and the recent raising of the rainbow flag at Newcastle University, and I’ve also spoken to members of several staff networks to help produce promotional materials for them.

Currently, I’m working on designing a brand new internal site for FMS EDI on NU Connect, which I intend to complete by the end of my internship. I have also created a calendar with awareness days to plan events around, and intend to produce promotional material for events such as International Men’s Day and National Mentoring Day based on this. I’m also planning a blog series on staff in FMS who’ve been successful in their careers while working part-time, to raise awareness of flexible working – if anyone in FMS would be interested in speaking to me for it, please get in contact!

I am excited for the rest of my internship as it’s giving me great experience for my Masters and a career in communications. I’m also really enjoying developing some of my existing skills, such as writing, while also using them in new platforms I’ve learnt about, like SharePoint. Finally, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about EDI issues specific to FMS, as well as being able to raise awareness of broader EDI issues that are important to me.

Lorna Britten is a Data Analyst Officer. She is a Maths undergraduate, beginning her final year of study in September. In her role, Lorna has been studying data about students and staff in FMS and presenting it in bar charts and graphs. In particular, Lorna’s work has focused on ethnicity (which has not been done before for FMS), looking at data regarding headcount, attainment, offer rates and acceptance rates. She has also looked at intersectionality, to see how other factors such as gender and disability affect these statistics.

In the second half of her internship, Lorna will be comparing her findings against national averages and trends, to see where Newcastle University falls within these. She will also more carefully examine the admissions and acceptance data, to make her findings more accurate. Finally, she hopes to present her findings as a series of infographics, in order to make the data more readable and impactful.

Lorna is enjoying her internship, as she feels she is learning important new skills and gaining experience, while also being able to help with a task that will hopefully encourage change, making Newcastle University a more equal place to study and work. She is also interested in potentially becoming a Data Analyst when she graduates, and believes this internship is providing her with relevant experience and helping her discover if it would be a career path she is interested in.

The third student intern is Joe Robson, who is also working as a Communications Officer. He’s a History and Politics undergraduate, who, like Lorna, is moving into his third year in September. During his internship, Joe has been preparing a series of blog posts on EDIF funded projects, speaking to those involved and drafting the posts. He’s written a report on our FMSDiversity Twitter account, looking at who follows us and using analytics to make recommendations about how to reach more people. He’s also been working on flyers about the rainbow Newcastle University lanyards.

By the end of his internship, Joe hopes to have produced more flyers and blog around future events and initiatives, such as International Women’s Day. He also intends to review the externally facing FMS EDI website, as well as complete his work on an FMS EDI logo.

Joe believes his time as a Communications Officer will give him experience in the communications and publicity fields, as well as providing him with transferable skills such as teamwork. He also hopes to gain a better sense of the EDI issues within his own University, as well as in Higher Education more broadly.