Diversity and Inclusion Initiative Fund – Successful Bids!

by Dr Allán Laville, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion & Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and Nozomi Tolworthy, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor.  

 

The D&I initiative fund supports bids that
a) involve innovative approaches to advancing D&I practice,
b) have a reach across the University and beyond, and
c) lead to meaningful impact by improving the lived experience of colleagues and students.

The successful bids in the 2020/21 Spring term round strongly meet the above criteria and advance our University D&I strategy. It was particularly nice to see many submissions aiming to advance our work in disability and neurodiversity.

Here you can view a list of the projects that received funding in the 2020/21 rounds and 2019/20 rounds. We would encourage individuals to get in touch with the central D&I Team or to those who led on these projects for further information and/or sharing best practice.

 

 

The following projects received funding in the 2020/21 round. 

Jia Hoong Ong, SPCLS, Autism Book Club (ABC)
Amanda Clarke, SAGES, Sharing Heritage through Diversity: The Festival Project
Hella Eckardt, SAGES, Diverse Archaologies
Anna Jones, MERL, 51 Voices – different voices
Marc Jacobs, IOE, Towards a Best Practice Model: BA Primary Education (IoE) Final Year students as mentoring partners to Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) Year 1 students embedding academic writing skills
Carolina Vasilikou, SBE, Architecture, The Neuro-atypical Hackathon Podcast event: Inclusive Wayfinding for adults with (dis)abilities
Shweta Band, Law, DI-Law-gues: Designing a pilot evidence-based support programme for improving undergraduate BAME student awarding gap at the School of Law
Matthew Windsor, Law, Locating Islam in the (Law School) Curriculum
Claire Collins, HBS, Forming a Group for the Dissemination of Gender Research
Claire Collins, HBS, Male Ally Training for the Women@Reading Network
Sarah Chorley, HBS, Networking Roulette
Eileen Hyder, CQSD, Promoting Race Equality in Higher Education: an edited UoR Anthology
Emma Snowden, Student Services, Career Diversity Champions R U Inspired?
Ciara McCabe, SPCLS, Showcasing the Barriers and Facilitators to University Entry for BAME vs White Reading Scholars
Ellen Pilsworth, SLL, DLC BAME and Talking Race meet-up
Jenny Chamarette, SACD, Dwoskin, disability and…
Kat Bicknell, SCFP, Establishing a BAME Student Network for Pharmacy Students

 

The following projects received funding in the 2019/20 round.

Jane Setter, SLL, Supporting successful BAME outcomes: Student life through a lens #2
Suzy Tutchell, IoE, A Stitch in Time: Inclusive Threads of Learning
Mark Laynesmith, Chaplaincy, Interfaith Intern
Ludmilla Cerne and David Nutt, SCFP, Student-led activities for better integration of students from the NUIST-Reading Academy
Jennifer Scott and Sam Williams, SMPCS, International Women in Mathematics Day 2020
Julie Farwell, SLL, Women’s Springboard 2019 cohort Termly Meetings
Sarah Cardey and Rebecca Jerrome, SAPD, Resources for decolonizing the curriculum
Yasmine Shamma, SLL, Revisionist Thinking: Fostering Inclusive Diversity

within the Curriculum, and Beyond

Eileen Hyder, CQSD, CQSD Diversity & Inclusion event: addressing ethnicity attainment differentials.
Calvin Smith, SMPCS, Hidden figures: putting people back into mathematics resources
Naomi Lebens, UMASCS, Drawing Diversity: Artist-in-Residence
Flavia Ghouri and Sophie Oduyale, SCFP, Setting up positive role models for the diverse body of students in Pharmacy
Nicola Abram, SLL, BAME students in English Literature: A Network
Matthew Windsor, School of Law, Decolonising the Legal Curriculum
Tony Capstick, SLL, Diversifying the curriculum: drawing on students’ linguistic and cultural heritage to develop intercultural awareness
Sedtin Wan, International Student Advisory Team, Gingerbread Village
Sedtin Wan, International Student Advisory Team, Global Buddies
Elizabeth Conaghan, School of Law, “The Disappearance of Miss Bebb” – a play about challenging inequalities.
Eleanor Draycott, IT, DiversIT: Diversity in Tech Event
Ellen Hackl, Technical Services, Making practical classes in Pharmacy Inclusive-by-Design.
Emma Butler, Careers, Identifying what support students with disabilities need with their career decisions and applications.
Jeanne-Louise Moys SACD; Richard Nunes HBS; Carolina Vasilikou, SBE, INCLUSIVE WAY HACKATHON: the design of everyday wayfinding in outdoor public environments.
Dr Rachael Neal and Rebecca Morgan, SAPD, Investigating effects of educational background and other D&I characteristics on student retention and attainment in SAPD UG programmes.
Dr Matthew McFrederick, FTT, Race and Performance Today
Dr Karen Jones, IoE, Leadership and Diversity in Higher Education
Liz Conaghan (School of Law) and Madeleine Davies (SLL), 100 Years of Women’s Voices
Sian Walsh, SBE, SBE Celebrating Diversity
Ruth Evans, SAGES, GES, Rights-based Mapping of Race and Religion Equalities and Discrimination in Statutory Service Provision in Reading
Colin Campbell, ISLI, Sanctuary café at UoR
Bolanle Adebola, Folashade Adeyemo, Law, Black History Month for Law (Month of October)
Mara Oliva, History, Women & BAME Women and US Foreign Policy
Amanda Clarke, SAGES, ‘Us Too: mental health, sexual harassment & bullying in fieldwork situations’
Allán Laville, SPCLS, Disability Research Showcase – Theory to Practice
Fiona Knott, SPCLS, Learning from the experts: students with autism tell us about autism at University
Daisy O’Connor, RUSU Activities Officer, Knights Pride Sports Day

 

 

For further information about the fund, take at look at these Staff Portal Articles:

Diversity and Inclusion Initiative Funding (30 November 2020)

Funding available for diversity and inclusion initiatives (06 August 2020)

Get in touch with the central D&I Team at diversity@reading.ac.uk if you have any further questions.

 

 

 

Making space: Connecting BAME students in the Department of English Literature

In this post, Part 3 students (and now 2020 graduates!) Georgia Courtney-Cox and Yinka Olaniyan and Lecturer Dr Nicola Abram discuss the BAME English Literature students’ network launched in 2019/20.

Photo of 2020 graduate Georgia Courtney-Cox, supplied by subject

Photo of 2020 graduate Yinka Olaniyan, supplied by subject

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yinka: The BAME student network was created for English Literature students to discuss their university experiences as BAME students. It was founded by Georgia Courtney-Cox, Nicola Abram and myself to act as a safe space for BAME students, who are often few and far between in the English department. For example, in 2018, only 14.4% of UK/EU entrants to undergraduate English Literature programmes identified as BAME, compared to 25% across the University as a whole.

Nicola: Georgia and Yinka were among seven students who participated in a project in 2018/19 which sought to explore the experiences of BAME students in the School of Literature and Languages. Project participants took photographs illustrating aspects of university life, which we discussed in our group and then shared publicly in a Library exhibition and online. For me, what stood out in these images was the dialogue between cultural and ethnic identity (for example, black British, or British Asian) and institutional and disciplinary identity (that is, being a student of a certain subject at the University of Reading). Participants wanted to be able to identify themselves – and be seen by others – as both. So, with some funding from the UoR Diversity & Inclusion fund and the Teaching & Learning Dean, Georgia, Yinka and I designed a schedule of events for 2019/20 where black, Asian, and ‘minority’ ethnic students of English Literature could get together, resourcing each other and building a supportive community.

Georgia: During the year I advertised the BAME network on the UoR ‘Student Life’ blog.

Yinka: Across the academic year, we have had various sessions and speakers. These have ranged from myself and Georgia facilitating informal discussions whilst we ate pizza, to Creative Writing lecturer Shelley Harris discussing how we can use our experiences to benefit our academic work. The Autumn Term session with three University of Reading graduates was a particularly encouraging experience for me. It was the first term of my final year at university and I was rather unsure of what lay ahead. The pressure of my dissertation and the impending uncertainty of graduation loomed over me. The graduates, however, reassured me that it was okay to feel overwhelmed about my dissertation and the fear of the unknown. After hearing about the various routes the graduates went down after university, I realised that my life did not have to follow a linear pattern. This allowed me to let go of anxiety about the future and focus on the present. It was because of this session that I feel like I got the most out of my final year.

Georgia: The Autumn Term graduate talks showed me that studying English Literature can provide transferable skills after university. The idea of life after university has always been a daunting thought at the back of my mind however after speaking to the graduates I felt reassured that I could enter the job market confident in my skills.

Yinka: My favourite session of the year was with Shirley Anstis, a local author and counsellor. In her interactive workshop, we used writing therapy to celebrate our successes since A-Levels. No one was required to read their writing out, so it was very much a personal exercise. We also did a visualisation activity of what we wanted our ideal future to look like. The exercise allowed me to reframe my goals and work out what truly mattered to me. Sessions like these every few weeks gave students a small period of calm in what is usually a hectic university schedule. It was also great to have BAME English Literature students from other years attend. We exchanged advice about modules we had taken and navigating university life as a BAME student generally. It was great to be able to relax and talk to other students about our oftentimes shared experiences.

Georgia: I noticed how impactful the network had become during the teaching strikes. Many students who attended the sessions would join because they were already on campus. I had anticipated that because there were fewer contact hours during the strikes not many students would attend, however, I was surprised that students still attended the session because they wanted to converse. We talked about staying motivated, dealing with anxieties within and outside of university, and formulated strategies to meet upcoming deadlines. Having an open discussion for 40 minutes helped me to de-stress. The time flew by and it made a massive difference to the rest of my day.

Nicola: As a member of staff sitting in on all but the student-led discussion sessions, I’ve learned so much this year. I’ve heard what a lonely and alienating experience it can be finding yourself the only person of colour in a classroom, and how frustrating it is when the curriculum doesn’t acknowledge the contributions of people like you. I’ve also seen how resourceful students have been in making a place for themselves at University, and their resilience in staying true to themselves despite various institutional and peer pressures. In our final, reflective session it was incredibly moving to see and celebrate how much the network participants have achieved this year, both academically and personally. Staff at the University have a responsibility to educate ourselves about the ways in which our systems – including our teaching methods and curricula – centre some students at the expense of others, and to make a change. I will be working with colleagues in the Department of English Literature and more widely to feed this forward.

Yinka: Being part of the BAME network has helped me in a multitude of ways. When I first started university, I felt that there were not many people I could relate to or who could relate to me. By the end of it, there is a network of people with whom I can discuss anything. The network has made me feel more comfortable about who I am and how I express myself to non-BAME students. I am now confident enough to speak about my experiences and have done so at various talks alongside Georgia, including a School of Literature and Languages meeting in November 2019 and a University-wide event in January 2020. It has been amazing to be part of such a great network and I would highly encourage anyone who has thought of attending to come along when future sessions are advertised. You can just drop into sessions that suit you – you don’t have to attend every session. Whether you would like to speak up or just listen in, the network is for everyone who wants to hear and reflect on the experiences of BAME students. The student-led sessions will be reserved for students of colour, but sessions led by UoR staff or with external speakers will be open to all students. BAME students have often been ignored in academic settings, but the network has allowed me and others to have a voice. My advice would be to use the BAME network as an empowering tool, to define your place at university.

 

Photo of Lecturer in Literatures in English, Dr Nicola Abram, taken by Laura Bennetto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAME network end of year poster

Typographic representation of BAME students’ English Literature meet-up 2019/20, designed by Georgia Courtney-Cox