Category Archives: Careers

Challenges and ambitions for career progression that supports diversity.

Careers

Student Equality and Diversity Bursaries: An Invitation to Inclusion

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To find out about another great project which has been funded by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund (EDIF), I spoke to Dr Laura Delgaty and student, Jenny Peal, about Student Equality and Diversity Bursaries.

The project, led by Laura Delgaty, who’s part of the School of Medical Education, aims to “support and encourage student led small scale equality and diversity research at Newcastle University”. 

The project had been awarded £2,500 from the EDIF, which was distributed between 6 students in the form of bursaries.

Three bursaries of £250 each were awarded to Undergraduate students from each of the three Schools, and a further three scholarships of £500 were awarded to Postgraduate students, again one from each of the three Schools.

One of the students who was provided with an Equality and Diversity Bursary was Postgraduate student Jenny Peal, from the School of Medical Education.

Jenny’s project was aided substantially by the bursary she was awarded. She studied 15 female cardiologists who worked and trained in a male-dominated environment, focusing on the impact this environment had on their success and development. The process of writing up the interview transcripts could take up to 5 hours at a time. This lengthy process, alongside full-time work, was only made possible thanks to the £500 bursary Jenny received.

If you’d like to find out more about other projects funded by the EDIF, click here to see our other blog posts about them.

Or, if you’ve got a burning idea for a project that you’d love to make a reality, apply for some money from the EDIF before the 23rd November! To find out more about the application process, click here, or email us at FMS.Diversity@ncl.ac.uk 

Careers, Gender Equality, Race and Faith

#MentoringRocks

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MentoringWe’re encouraging everyone in the Faculty to get more involved with mentoring. Would you like a mentor? Or can you be a mentor for a more junior member of staff or a postgraduate student?

We often come to a crossroads where we need to make some decisions about our careers and want to talk it over with someone else. You may just feel like you need a one-off career conversation with someone, or you may be looking for a longer term mentoring relationship. This person might have experience you lack, or just be an independent ear to listen to your situation. This is especially the case for people early in their careers, but can be useful for any of us.

In order to facilitate such conversations, a few years ago, we launched the Early Careers Mentoring Network (ECMN) database. Our database has a long list of people (including our own academics and professional staff, as well as people in other careers outside the University) who are willing to be contacted for a one-off conversation (or more) about their career.  You can search this list on a range of different characteristics which you might be looking for in a potential mentor.

What are the benefits to having a mentor?

One of the benefits to having a mentor is that you can learn a lot from their experience, and get a fresh perspective on your current challenges. You can also get access to support and resources which you may not know about, or get feedback on your career aspirations, which might help you achieve your goals more quickly. And a good mentor can also motivate you and help increase your confidence or self-esteem, enabling you to resolve challenges and move on in the longer term.

If you want to find a mentor and start a conversation, you can do search the database any time: https://fms-apps.ncl.ac.uk/mentor/search/early_career_mentors/

Why become a mentor?

A successful scheme needs good mentors, who are willing to give something back and support people at an earlier career stage. We are always looking for people to join our mentoring schemes. Mentoring passes on your knowledge and values to the next generation to accelerate their careers, but can also benefit you. The benefits of being a mentor can include: improved confidence, enhanced communication skills (especially listening), a broader view, and an enhanced ability to manage people.

Why not sign up to be a mentor today? Our database is directly linked to similar schemes run by NU Women and the BAME network for their members, so when you sign up as a mentor for our scheme, you can also choose to be a mentor for these schemes too – just tick the relevant boxes once you log in. To sign up (or update your profile if you have on already), please go into the database: https://fms-apps.ncl.ac.uk/mentor/myprofile.

If you have an queries about our Early Careers Mentoring Scheme, please contact Tom Smulders. All other queries to the Faculty EDI Team. 

Organisational Development also runs the NU Mentoring scheme for all staff. It is currently closed, but will be open its annual call for mentees in January. You can register your interest here.

Careers

 NU TechNet

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 NU TechNet is a staff network run by Technicians, for Technicians, to give them a voice and help them to feel valued at work.

If you’re interested in getting involved, TechNet’s first meeting of the year is on 10th October, 1 – 3.15pm, in the Lindisfarne Room in the Hadrian Building.

To find out more about TechNet and why you should come along, we spoke to Roy Lamb, an Analytical Technician in the School of Natural and Environmental Science and a member of TechNet.

Can you tell us a bit about what the network does?

NU TechNet has a number of functions and is a major part of identifying and driving some of the Technician Commitment initiatives. Launched by the Science Council in May 2017, the Technician Commitment is a university and research institution initiative. It is led by a steering group of sector bodies, with support from the Science Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s ‘Technicians Make It Happen’ campaign.

As of September 2017, 61 institutes of higher education have joined the Technician commitment. Newcastle University is a founder signatory and joined in March 2017 with the approval of Prof. Chris Day.

In short, NU TechNet allow us as technicians to increase visibility, evaluate impact, gain recognition, develop our careers, ensure the future stability of technical skill across the organisation and allow that skill to be fully utilised.

How has TechNet helped you personally?

NU TechNet has allowed me to showcase my skills as a member of the technical work force, build confidence through presenting my work at NU TechNet events and really helped get my name out there as an individual. Being an individual is often difficult as a technician as we are extremely team orientated, however we each have our own set of skills and abilities which isn’t frequently seen by others outside of those teams.

What has been the best thing about being part of TechNet?

The Network has been extremely useful in bringing forth and drawing from the years of experience of our technicians. Reducing equipment downtime and repair costs, whilst allowing for knowledge transfer and process tutoring. This not only increases the skill base of the technical workforce, but ensures that those techniques are passed onto the next generation of technicians.

It is also extremely interesting to hear about all the different projects and tasks other technician have completed or have in progress.

Where do you hope to see the network going in the future?

In keeping with the universities vision, we have targets we’d like to meet in the future. Here are a few of those we’d like to accomplish within the next 5 years, using NU TechNet as a driving force:

  • Examine impact cases submitted to the forthcoming REF submission to identify exemplars where Technical Staff input has been vital to their success.
  • Where appropriate, key decision making Committees/Boards to have Technical Staff representation/expertise.
  • Introduction of apprenticeships up to and including Level 7 that existing and new Technical Staff can access, as a development opportunity.
  • Establish a Technical Skills Academy to deliver technical CPD to others across the HE and commercial sectors.

To find out more about NU TechNet, or how to get involved, please click here. You can also follow them on Twitter @NU_TechNet.

Careers, Gender Equality

Soapbox Science Newcastle

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Soapbox Science arrived in Newcastle on the 16th of June, 2018 and was a resounding success for all involved! The initiative, which was set up in 2011, aims to promote and showcase some of the scientific work that women are doing around the region. Staff from our own faculty organised the event, and along with our own scientists and those from the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, we were joined by researchers from Durham University and the University of York. Each speaker spent an hour on a soapbox at the Monument talking to passers by about the importance of their research. We have to thank all the volunteers who helped engage the public, discuss elements of their scientific research and make it such a great afternoon.

There were lots of topics, including living slime, how our bodies age, and how animals see the world. Here’s what one of the members of our faculty, Dr Diana Umeton, had to say about what she thought of Soapbox Science’s event at Monument:

“Soapbox Science has been a great experience for me. I was a volunteer last year and this year I was a speaker. I enjoyed every bit from the training and the preparation of the props to speaking to two young girls about their doubts and curiosity about animal vision. For me, being able to bring the science that we do in the lab out in to the street is a way to give something back to the public. I hope that by talking to the crowd about science and how scientific progression affects their everyday life I inspired and motivated young people to pursue their interest and their parents to support them in doing so. “

If you’re interested in becoming a speaker or a volunteer next year, look out for the call early in 2019.

And if you’d like to see the full list of speakers at Soapbox Science’s Newcastle event and additional photos from the day, then click here for more information.

Careers, Gender Equality

Why might the Aurora Programme be for you?

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Over the last few years, our Faculty has supported over 20 staff to attend the Aurora Programme, a flagship women-only leadership programme run by AdvanceHE to develop higher education leaders of the future. As we open up our application process for this year’s programme, we hear from Louise Reynard, one of our Aurora alumni, about what she got out of the programme, and the positive impact it’s had on some of our staff.

Despite over 4,600 women from over 171 higher education institutes having attended the course since its inception in 2013, I hadn’t heard of Aurora before it was mentioned by my unit head. I attended the course in 2016/2017 in Edinburgh, at the same time that I was transitioning from being a research fellow to being a lecturer with my own group. I found the course incredibly useful, not only because of what I learned about management and leadership, but because of the people I met, both attendees and speakers.

My favourite part of the course was the Action Learning Set; this involved 8 of us in a small room (with lots of cake!) taking turns to discuss our work related challenges and helping us identify our own solutions and future steps. My action learning group included a librarian, an HR manager, a law lecturer and a humanities professor, amongst others. Despite all being from different universities and having completely different jobs, it was amazing how many challenges were shared. The other people in my action learning group were really supportive and it was relief knowing that I was not unique, and that there were other people having the same leadership challenges as me. My action learning group have kept in touch, emailing regularly and meeting up once a year, usually over cake! Every current and previous attendee that I have spoken to has enjoyed and gained a lot from attending the course, as have other attendees from Newcastle:

‘Without this training I was at a point where I was considering giving up my Leadership role, instead I have identified solutions to reduce my workload and to focus on development of my leadership skills. I have a framework for doing that now.’

‘[I am] More confident in my role and more assertive in what I think can be/should be achieved. I’ve also applied and been successful for a promotion recently which I may not have done otherwise. I certainly wouldn’t have felt able to negotiate my salary before Aurora.’

‘I feel more empowered and I am able to recognise my skills and achievements and sell myself better’.

‘I have a better understanding of my own emotions around leadership and that my insecurities are natural, I am better at recognising and acknowledging my achievements and skill set.’

‘My confidence has also increased in that I am more comfortable in my role even when I don’t have the answers.’

‘I joined the first cohort in 2012 and have stayed active within the programme ever since. It has had a huge impact on my thinking, my networks and my personal development and I would encourage you to apply.’

If you are interested in applying, or even just want to find out a little bit more about the scheme and whether its right for you,  come along to the Aurora afternoon tea, where you can chat to alumni of the programme and get help with applying. The afternoon tea will be 2-4pm on 9th July in G.21/22, Devonshire Building – please email your OD rep to let them know you’ll be attending.

I hope to see you there!