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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2023: The Shoulders of Giants: Listening, Learning and Improving our Practice

This conference will focus on best practice in addressing issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in HE.

In 1676 in a letter to his fellow-scientist Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton wrote:

“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.

Newton’s metaphor was not original - theologian and author John of Salisbury, writing in 1159 used a version of the phrase, going on to say, "We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."

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This metaphor acknowledges that advancement in thinking and practice often comes from the inspiration, provocation and challenge that encountering the ideas of others provides – giants are those from whom we can learn and springboard our own learning and process. When we think about the influences on the canon of equity, diversity and inclusion today, several significant questions come to mind:

  • Who are our ‘giants’? What is our framework of reference for recognising them? How do we challenge exclusionary notions of scholarship, evidence and expertise, and acknowledge and value the work of scholars and practitioners from marginalised groups?
  • How do we ensure that we are learning from the widest diversity of sources/resources/lived experience/location?
  • How do we encounter ideas that challenge our own ideas in a way that maximises the potential for learning?
  • How do we ensure diversity amongst future ‘giants’ in the way we encourage, support, value and promote our students and staff?
  • How can co-creation and collaboration with students, staff and other communities enhance our understanding of EDI?
  • What can we learn from EDI thinking and practice in sectors other than Higher Education?
  • How do we create opportunities to share/benefit from EDI expertise with international partners?
  • How do we understand, navigate and benefit from increasingly complex and intersectional ideas about equity, diversity and inclusion?
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Share and celebrate your achievements and learning

Presenter's contribution to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2023 will be digitally recognised

Digital recognition will make it easy for you to share and celebrate your Advance HE learning achievements by adding them to your email signature or including them in your social profiles including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Your certificates can also be easily downloaded as a pdf.

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Conference Outcomes

With a focus on exploring these questions, this conference offers:

  • An opportunity to think deeply and creatively about how we can build our learning on equity, diversity and inclusion to draw on the widest range of thinking and practice, including marginalised voices, new ways of learning, and learning from outside of higher education.
  • A chance to share what we are doing to disrupt traditional understanding of scholarship and scholars/expertise and experts, and to challenge structures and processes that limit career opportunities.
  • A platform to share new ideas that will stimulate our thinking about equity, diversity and inclusion – inviting people to stand on our shoulders and share our insights, as well as learning from those who do likewise.
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Conference themes

The conference will have the following sub-themes:

  1. Learning from students: Including innovative practice in curriculum design; co-creation and collaboration; student engagement strategies; student-led approaches to dignity and respect; mental health and wellbeing; working with student governors and representatives.
  2. Learning across difference: For example, approaches to fostering good relations and supporting respectful dialogue around contentious issues; ideas for developing whole-institution engagement on EDI.
  3. Learning across the globe: Sharing insights and expertise that widen our understanding of EDI across the world. For example, indigenous scholarship and ways of learning; models for effective international collaborations and exchanges.
  4. Learning from beyond HE: Examples of innovative practice from outside the sector.
  5. Developing giants: Ideas for encouraging and supporting the development of a diverse community of experts, scholars, leaders and practitioners. For example, early-career researcher development, positive action programmes.
  6. ‘On the shoulders of’: Sharing innovative thinking/research that widens knowledge and understanding of any aspect of EDI. An opportunity to be giants.
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About the conference

The conference will run across two days with an optional evening dinner and entertainment on the evening of the 15 March. Delegates can attend the full conference or choose the one day that resonates most with their work, experiences or requirements.

Please note that there will also be an early evening reception for Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter award winners from recent application rounds. Some of these winners will be offered the opportunity to showcase their work during specific sessions in the conference programme

This is a conference that anyone serious about matters of Inclusivity, Equity and Diversity, should attend. It really is a box of delights with something for everyone to take away.

Dr Barbara Howard-Hunt

Senior Lecturer Inclusivity Hub, Birmingham City University

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Programme

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Abstracts

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Speakers Day 1

Keynote speaker 15 March:

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion)
,
Durham University
Shaid Mahmood
With many years of experience in working in senior roles in industry and as a Chief Officer for Transformation, Change and Communities in Local Government, Shaid is also the Chair of the Association of Colleges, Chair of the Luminate Education Group, and Pro Vice Chancellor of Durham University.

Welfare and Liberation Officer
,
Durham University
Laura Curran
Laura currently holds the sabbatical role of Welfare and Liberation Officer at Durham Students’ Union. As a Durham University student, they studied a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, followed by a MA in Philosophy. Within the role, Laura represents students’ interests on a plethora of issues, including housing, mental health, sexual misconduct and violence, and EDI.

Partner & Head of Education Shakespeare Martineau
Smita Jamdar
Smita is Relationship Partner for Shakespeare Martineau’s education clients and advises on strategic, regulatory, constitutional, governance and student matters. Her approach is best summed up by Chambers & Partners: "She is very knowledgeable about the sector, very well informed about the challenges the sector faces, and insightful about how we could change and adapt." Smita is a member of the Higher Education Commission and an enthusiastic contributor to sector debate through the firm’s education blog, Going Further & Higher and her Twitter feed. She has Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees for services to higher education from the Universities of Warwick and Lincoln.

Project Lead
,
SOAS, University of London
Alison Baumann
I am professor of Society and Belief in the Law, Media and Gender Studies department at SOAS, University of London. I team-managed SOAS’s recent very successful REF impact submission. My work represents a clear paradigm shift in British parliamentary relations with Higher Education by supporting knowledge creation between mainstream universities and Westminster. My small HEIF funded research team and I have developed a project with blog (Influencing the Corridors of Power (ICOP)) that communicates influential one-page briefings to each member of both Houses of Parliament on urgent topics, written by experts from SOAS, from law firms and from medical experts.
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Speakers Day 2

Keynote speaker 16 March:

Professor Emeritus of Equalities Law
,
Manchester Metropolitan University
Stephen Whittle
A co-founder of Press For Change (PFC www.pfc.org.uk) the UK's transgender lobby group, Stephen has been the organisation’s Head of Legal Services for over 25 years, running and training a team of volunteers providing free legal advice to transgender people and those who work with them. In 2005 he was a founder member and later Chair of Transgender Europe. He has been researching and writing about the law and transgender people for over 30 years, including being a co-author of the Yogyakarta Principles on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Human Rights.

Doctoral Research Student
,
Loughborough University
Jess Moody
Jess Moody (she/her) is a Doctoral Research student at Loughborough University, investigating ‘knowledge, care, and emotions in UK HE “EDI” work’. She completed a first degree in Law at the University of Oxford in the 2000s, then returned to education in the 2010s for her MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture via part-time evening study at Birkbeck (alongside full-time work, and caring responsibilities). Jess worked on student access and admissions at different universities, before becoming a sector-level educator and adviser supporting equitable higher education. She returned to full-time study with a studentship award from Loughborough in 2022.

Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
,
Leeds Trinity University
Shames Maskeen
Shames Maskeen is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at Leeds Trinity University, and his PhD focusses on widening participation from a psychological perspective. In particular, increasing the participation of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in higher education through self-efficacy and role modelling. His research focusses on addressing the interplay of culture, religion, and gender on the lived experiences of people of colour. In his previous role as Institutional Lead for the Race Equality Charter, he was the driving force in Leeds Trinity University becoming the first University in Yorkshire to achieve the Bronze award.

Head of Strategy, Planning and Governance, The Bar Council
Jamie Shaw
Jamie Shaw is a governance professional with experience supporting both corporate and academic governance in the Higher Education environment. He is now responsible for Governance and Strategic Planning at the General Council of the Bar, the representative body for Barristers in England and Wales. His experience at Universities covers both small specialist providers and large multi-faculty institutions. Previous roles include Head of Governance and Executive Support and Governance Manager at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and a number of professional services roles in areas such as Quality Assurance, Academic Standards and Registry services at the University of Westminster.

Director
,
Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)
Nick Hillman
Nick Hillman has been the Director of HEPI since 2014. He worked for the Rt Hon David Willetts MP (now Lord Willetts), the Minister for Universities and Science, from 2007 until the end of 2013, as Chief of Staff and then Special Adviser in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Previously, he was a History teacher and worked at the Association of British Insurers.

Assistant Director, Knowledge & Innovation
,
Advance HE
Charles Knight
Charles is an academic leader with a proven track record of delivery in the areas of learning and teaching and enterprise. Prior to joining Advance HE, he was Associate Dean (Student Experience) at Salford Business School where he worked with colleagues to introduce a series of innovative practices including short technical qualifications, block teaching and an increased emphasis on the use of simulations and experimental learning. He was also involved in setting up a North-West Attainment Gap group bring together business schools.
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