As part of our blog series highlighting projects within the University which have been supported by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund (EDIF), I spoke to Dr Ann Fitchett, who came up with the idea of Sweetening the Message.
Sweetening the Message aims to raise awareness of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, across our Faculty and the wider University. Packets of jellybeans displaying the message “supporting all to reach their potential”, have been distributed throughout the University.
Thanks to the EDI Fund, Sweetening the Message received £5000 to buy 5,000 packets of jellybeans!
The idea came from Stonewall, when Newcastle signed up as a Stonewall Global Champion back in 2016. When representatives from Stonewall came to Newcastle, they handed out packets of sweets with a message about their work attached, to raise awareness about what they were doing.
Dr Ann Fitchett, who is responsible for the Faculty’s engagement and outreach, alongside Dr Tom Smulders, the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee of the Institute of Neuroscience, embraced Stonewall’s sweet idea.
Sweetening the Message will help spread the message of support, and the ambition both FMS and Newcastle University have to support all students and staff in reaching their full potential.
Keep an eye out for students handing out jellybeans around the Faculty and campus soon!
If you’re a student or a member of staff at Newcastle University and you think you’ve got a great idea for a project to promote engagement with the EDI agenda at the University, click here to find out more about EDIF, or email us at FMS.Diversity@ncl.ac.uk Funding closes on the 23rd November, so hurry up!
As part of our blog series focusing on projects funded by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund (EDIF), I spoke to Dr Laura Delgaty about the project she got funding for: Creating an Equality and Diversity Calendar.
The aim of the calendar is to help keep staff and students up to date and informed about any upcoming EDI events they may wish to attend or participate in. It has been made easily accessible through the University Intranet (it can be found here).
The project received £1,500 from the EDIF, to cover costs such as a focus group, to determine what people wanted from the calendar, and IT support, to have the calendar professionally developed. They also employ an intern, who is responsible for ensuring relevant events are added to the calendar across the year.
Laura hopes that the calendar will “promote and celebrate equality and diversity in the region”, and encourage staff and students across the University to engage more widely with EDI issues.
Laura also highlighted the importance of the calendar for innovation within the University: “this calendar is an example of staff innovation in action, potentially generating further innovation within the staff and student body, a core academic objective outlined in the E&D strategy”.
To see the new calendar and check out upcoming EDI events, please click here.
Or, if you’re a student or a member of staff at Newcastle University and you think you’ve got a great idea for a project to promote engagement with the EDI agenda at the University, click here to find out more about EDIF, or email us at FMS.Diversity@ncl.ac.uk
It’s that time of year again! Applications for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund (EDIF) are open and will close on the 23rd of November.
The EDIF is an internal funding scheme available to all staff who’ve got an innovative idea for a project, scheme or event that helps promote the EDI agenda at Newcastle University. Up to £5,000 is available, but applications from projects requiring less are particularly encouraged.
On the run up to the deadline (23rd November 2018) we’ve been speaking to a number of staff who’ve made successful applications to the EDIF about their projects. These projects are:
So, if you’re still not sure about applying, or need some motivation to push on with your application, keep an eye on this page over the next few weeks to read all about these projects!
For more information about what kind of projects will be considered, and to access the application form, please click here.
October is Black History Month in the UK, and like many other institutions, the University is hosting a number of events to recognise the history, experiences and accomplishments of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and to promote race equality more broadly. In this post, we talk to Vijaya Kotur, our University Race Equality Advisor, about her work and what staff and students can get involved with this month.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role?
My key responsibility is to work with everyone from across the University to support the organisation’s commitment to race equality. That means that I work with Professional Services and Academic staff, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students. Based on the data and evidence available I’ll be ensuring that race equality is implemented in the University’s culture, policies and operations by measuring equality impact of race alongside other protected characteristics.
Our University has reached a lot through promoting and achieving various Athena SWAN awards. However, there are still inequities in areas, where people from diverse backgrounds have not reached their full potential or benefited equitably from the opportunities our University provides. Hence, my role will involve working with you all to raise awareness, challenging relevant issues and promoting the need to move away from the deficit model of race equality that has been around for generations.
What might an average day look like for you?
Each day is different and that’s what makes my job so interesting. I have to read a lot to keep myself abreast of any relevant changes in legislation and whatever is new out there. As the only person in this role, I get to meet interesting people from all over the University. I enjoy meeting with students as their enthusiasm is contagious and gives me more inspiration to work on race and equality matters.
An average day is: having a few meetings; acting on actions from meetings attended; writing up certain process or guidance that needs to be addressed; and researching new ideas that can be used to raise awareness on race equality within our University. But on some days, I might be running around like a headless chicken whilst responding to the demands of my day-to-day responsibilities!
What events have been organised around the University for Black History Month, and is there one that you are particularly looking forward to?
‘Black History Month’ means different things to everyone and pride for this month is expressed in a variety of different ways. For many, ‘Black History Month’ is a way of reflecting on the diverse histories of those from African and Caribbean descent, taking note of the achievements and contributions to the social, political, economic and cultural development of the UK. There are many events planned in and around the University by and for both staff and students, including:
Friday 19th Oct (all day): All Staff and Students are invited to partake in ‘Wear something Red Day’ to make everyone aware of the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign.
I am looking forward to promoting ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ as it will mark a commitment from our University that we stand against Racism in all its forms, and that we respect, celebrate and cherish our diverse communities represented within our University.
These workshops are designed to support staff to strengthen their understanding of race equality and highlight the skills required for effective culture change. It introduces participants to key concepts within the field of race equality with the aim of improving knowledge and understanding about race and racism within a safe and reflective space.
These sessions should make an individual aware of what contributes to racial inequalities, their own privileges and how to challenge certain behaviours like micro-aggression, which knowingly or unknowingly happen all the time around us at the workplace. I am hoping that the sessions will enable staff to begin engaging with conversations on race equality much more freely.
The biggest challenge I find is that people within the HE sector find it very uncomfortable to talk about race. Any change takes time. We need resources to implement race equality in such a diverse and complex institution. We also need to ensure that the work life experiences of all staff are fulfilling, and students’ experiences at University will be measured by their attainment level by ethnicity.
Diversifying the curriculum will also be a major part of promoting race equality within HE, and that will be quite challenging. However, there are some fantastic people within our University who are committed, and with their backing I am positive that these challenges will become a bit easier.
Some universities holds Race Equality Charter awards for their work towards race equality, is Newcastle University aiming for this type of award?
Newcastle University is also working towards applying to be a member of Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter. Once we become a member, we are committed to applying to get a Bronze Award within three years. So we all need to start cracking on our work on Race Equality!
Looking for something to read for #BHM2018?
If our staff and students wanted to learn more about black history or race equality in the UK, is there anything that you would recommend they read?
One of the best books I would recommend for everyone to read is: ‘Why I’m no longer talking to white people about Race’ by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It’s an easy-read and relevant to the UK.
For any queries about the Race Equality Charter or the University’s work towards race equality, contact Vijaya.
This week, I attended the first of three workshops on the language we might use to talk about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues, organised by staff from our School of Psychology. Whilst I was secretly hoping for a clear steer around what terms I should (and shouldn’t) be using, I got a lot more from the talks and discussions we actually had.
The idea for the workshops stemmed from some first-hand experiences: it is easy for even well-meaning staff to upset students with the words they use without even realising it. And when acceptable language can change quite quickly, it can be particularly challenging for people to always use the right words in a particular situation.
The workshop had three fantastic speakers, all with their own perspectives and approaches to the importance of language around EDI. The first speaker was a young researcher from our Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Katie Markham. Katie eloquently talked through some recent examples of where things said on social media had dramatically gone wrong. Through exploring these, what I learned was the importance of listening to the complaint if we use the wrong language: it is OK to feel the sting of criticism, but so important to learn from it.
Our second speaker, Nadeem Ahmad, who has worked in a number of EDI advisory roles and is a Trustee of Show Racism the Red Card, directly addressed whether there should be a list of “dos and don’ts” in the language that we use. Whilst I was hoping there would be an easy “yes” answer to this, his answer was, “no, there shouldn’t”. That’s because when we become prescriptive about what can and can’t be said, it opens up the opportunity for people to argue that there is nothing wrong about certain words being used under particular circumstances. Instead, he suggested that we should all have a list of words we try to avoid, and that we should be asking ourselves, “Do I need to use that word?”. This seems a much more pragmatic solution, and one to keep in mind.
Our final speaker was Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle (Central), who spoke about some of her personal experiences of growing up in Newcastle, and the importance of discussing the language we use. She spoke powerfully about the problems she has with the use of the term ‘political correctness’: my personal feeling is that this term can be used to mute criticism from those affected by what is perceived to be insensitive language. But surely we need to be making sure that we don’t cause offence to people unintentionally, not defending language deemed to be inappropriate?
My take-home message was, that whilst it is clearly worth putting in some work to understand what words are offensive or acceptable (and the University will be producing some guidance on that shortly), interpretation of language depends upon the context that it is used. But when people are offended unintentionally, the key response is to listen, understand, and learn for next time. I’m sure that other people will have different points of view, but we are all individuals, with our own views, and our own ways of expressing them. The key thing is to make sure that what we say, whatever the situation, is respectful and as considerate as we can be. And if we are challenged on the words we’ve used, listen carefully, and think about whether there might be a better way to say it next time.
Candy Rowe, Director of EDI (FMS)
There are two more workshops: 10th October 4-6pm with a focus on mental health and disability, and 17th October 4-6pm with a focus on trans and non-binary language the legalities of what we can and can’t say. All sessions are held in the Atrium with an afternoon tea provided. Book here.
Talking Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and at Newcastle University.
It’s that time of year again!
