Author: Jake Orros (Page 8 of 9)

Celebrating the Diversity of our Student Body and our Students’ Achievements.

We want our spaces on campus to represent King’s and our global diversity. We recognise that rooms around campus do not always reflect the diversity of our staff and students, or showcase success, civic leadership and service. As identified through our Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter Marks, the images in the Council Room were chosen for a pilot project to diversify the images and present a broader range of role models.

The Council Room, The King’s Building, Strand Campus.

A university working group has recently updated the imagery in the Council Room. The group had an explicit aim to address the historic lack of diversity in the images, particularly gender and ethnicity. The new image panels now show a broader, more diverse range of role models, illustrate King’s dedication to service, and celebrate our students’ achievements. The changes also modernise the space and remind us of our academic purpose and who we serve.

Group photo of 5 students sitting on steps of Bush House, hanging in the Council Room, King’s Building, Strand Campus.

The artwork was installed on 19 July.

The working group included students and staff, and deliberately connected to our Athena Swan and Race Equality accreditations. This work is a pilot and we hope to use similar approaches with larger sections of our community as part of routine campus refreshes. Thank you to the hard work of the teams involved.

The Council Room.

If you are interested in contributing to diversifying King’s spaces in the future, please contact diversity@kcl.ac.uk.

Jennifer Hastings, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager here at King’s College London, explores what it means to learn to do better.

I have been thinking a lot about the EDI learning process and the reliance we have on marginalised groups to help us understand their experience. As a university community, we know the importance of an environment that facilitates learning. You only need to read the King’s strategy to see the value placed on accepting, if not embracing, our mistakes (“King’s is a space in which to learn through questioning views, exploring beliefs and values and learning from failure as well as from success”).

Critical thinking and the ability to fail may be cornerstones of academic success, but what happens when well-meaning debate or plain ignorance causes harm? Of course, there is a difference between genuine curiosity and those who spout discriminatory views under the guise of “playing devil’s advocate” however it still prompts the question of how we enable people to learn and challenge whilst maintaining a safe space for the rest of our community.

The term “safe space” can have a range of connotations that are often dependent on a person’s background, political leanings and lived experience. That said, I imagine most people agree that it’s difficult to thrive in a space that doesn’t meet this basic definition. The reason we place so much emphasis on a “safe space” within the context of EDI is because the topics addressed are not hypothetical concepts; they relate to the identity and lived experience of other people (some of whom may be sat in the same room as you).

It’s also important to acknowledge the pressure often placed on certain groups to relive their own trauma as a way of schooling others. This can be made worse by the reaction that follows, whether that’s extreme defensiveness or deliberate gaslighting. In her book “Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race”, Reni Eddo-Lodge talks about her experience of educating white people: “The journey towards understanding structural racism still requires people of colour to prioritise white feelings.”

I will always believe in a person’s potential to learn, change and do better however I acknowledge that this comes from a place of privilege. It is a lot easier to take a forgiving stance when it isn’t your identity that is being questioned or your lived experience that is being dismissed. In Emma Dabiri’s book, “What White People Can Do Next”, she refers to a quote by bell hooks (the lack of capitals is deliberate):

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”

I don’t have an answer to this, but I believe it’s a conversation we mustn’t shy away from. In lieu of a solution, below are some points to consider when exploring topics relating to EDI. I would love to hear any further advice or perspectives you have in the comments.

• Being safe and uncomfortable are not mutually exclusive (as outlined in UCL’s helpful toolkit). Mira Vogel from King’s Academy has produced an excellent resource about brave spaces, which illustrates this point and provides guidance on how these can be facilitated in an educational setting
• If you are facilitating a discussion, consider outlining its scope at the beginning and clarifying whether there are any matters that aren’t up for debate. For example, if you were leading a discussion on the BLM Movement, it could be helpful to state at the beginning that KCL’s stance is to work towards being an actively anti-racist university and that this is not the space to debate this approach
• When undertaking self-directed study, it’s worth exploring whether you can find answers by championing the work of marginalised groups. By paying for content, whether it’s a book or online subscription, you are acknowledging the value of the creator’s labour
• An individual’s right to hold a belief does not supersede the rights of those with other protected characteristics. Stonewall tweeted about a recent example concerning gender critical beliefs and how the freedom to hold these beliefs has no bearing on the right of trans people to live free from harassment and discrimination
• I’m going to end by quoting the writer, Matt Haig: “Self-forgiveness makes the world better. You don’t become a good person by believing you are a bad one. Acknowledge faults, don’t become them.” In summary, when you make a mistake (which is inevitable), apologise and use what you’ve learnt to do better next time

In the fourth installment of our community reflections a year on from the murder of George Floyd, we bring you comments from; the faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences and Fundraising & Supported Development.  

Helen Coulshed, Faculty Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair, Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences 

Reflect on the last year, on the commitments you made and your personal learning and development.  

This has been a pivotal year for NMES, appointing the first person of colour as Executive Dean, a female as EDI lead for the faculty and we also now have 3 out of 5 departments with female Heads. Professor Bashir M. Al-Hashimi and Dr Helen Coulshed, with the support of her Deputy chairs Donna Niccolls and Lauren Feltham, have ensured that race and racism has remained high on the agenda for our faculty.   

Our focus has been to engage with key stakeholders at conversations about race (CAR), understand what training is available at King’s (race and racism training at SMT) and what still needs to happen to increase the wider feeling of inclusion experienced by all our staff and students.   

What you have done as a result in your areas of the university?  

We have worked with Arkam to develop conversations about race to take it beyond dialogue and progress into action orientated discussions about how to improve the culture for current staff and students and improve allyship. This will involve working with Ms Nkasi Stoll, a PhD student from psychological medicine and her research into mental health of black students at King’s. We hope to have her as an invited speaker and run both allyship workshops, mental health support and advertise her Black students talk program.  

We are talking with Messiah Odinma (head of student success) about attainment gap training for academic staff to build on the personal tutor guidance for students of colour that was created by our inclusive education student partners of 20/21. Messiah will talk with NMES academic staff about the attainment gap, some of its causes and their role in eradicating it through supporting underrepresented students. Staff away days and all staff meetings will be used for delivery of this training opportunity.  

Dr Ashwin Matthew from Digital Humanities has also given a talk about decolonising computer science at our weekly education elevenses. This sparked a lot of interest and discussion about what a decolonised science curriculum looks like. NMES is now part of the KCL decolonisation working group and will start engaging with projects to facilitate decolonisation of our science curriculum.  

NMES has committed an additional £10,000 towards inclusivity training. Allyship and inclusive recruitment training have been prioritised in accordance with the King’s Race Equality Charter action plan.   

We successfully applied for the Race Equality and Inclusive Education Fund for a student to help analyse first year core module attainment and engagement data. The aim of the project is to determine what assessment types reduce or remove attainment gaps based on ethnicity, gender, and fee status and create guidance on how to make the science curriculum more inclusive.   

What difference you think has been made?   

We have more engagement with more communities within the Faculty in EDI work. Our NMES Student EDI forum has developed a sense of agency through influencing Faculty priorities and working closely with our inclusive education student partners (IESPs) on their personal tutor guidance for supporting students of colour.  

What you feel still needs doing?   

Better communication and connectivity of work happening within departments and at NMES-level to ensure that anti-racism and inclusion is a shared endeavour. Creation of spaces to discuss race and racism at King’s, more mental health support for staff and students, considering ‘weathering’ effect that this year will have had on black or mixed heritage black staff and students are all potential areas of future focus. NMES PhD studentships exclusively for Black and mixed heritage black students and be more overt in recognising we have more to do to ensure we are representative across all grades. 

Jennie Younger, Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Fundraising & Supported Development 

Fundraising & Supported Development Leadership Team and the wider Dept has committed to talking openly and honestly about racism and race equality, and backing this up with action that delivers tangible impact. To support this, external support has been brought in to facilitate discussions at the LT, building confidence and capability in terms of talking about race. This supported the LT’s engagement with a Department-wide session in March, where all staff participated in group discussions about racism and race equality, considering their own personal experiences, the extent to which they had thought about the topic, and what action they wanted to see. Twelve members of staff were trained by Citizens UK to facilitate these discussions, which received excellent feedback from participants, even though all acknowledged the uncomfortable nature of the discussions.  

A Working Group, sponsored and chaired by a member of the LT, is now taking the outputs of these discussions and using them to build an action plan, to deliver change and impact over 21/22 and beyond. This is focussing on the following themes:  

• Communicating with alumni and supporters   
• Cultures and values   
• Inductions and training   
• ‘Money in and money out’ (considering race equality in terms of gift acceptance and what we fundraise for)    
• Recruitment and progression   

A further set of Departmental conversations are planned at the F&SD Departmental Awayday in July.  

F&SD is collaborating with other PS Directorates to ensure there is alignment and to maximise impact, as well as looking externally for advice and support (e.g. the EDI lead from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation has attended a Working Group meeting to share best practice).   We appreciated Sarah’s time at a recent F&SD leadership team meeting..  

Meanwhile I am on the EDI working group for the Ross Group (Russell Group Development Directors plus Development leads from key Charities) where we are proposing a range of initiatives to address the issue in Fundraising and Alumni Relations.  

You can read the other blogs in this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

King’s Business School lecturer and Inclusive Education Partner, Ilia Protopapa, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Officer, Tyler John, and D&I Consultant, Antonis Kazouris, reflect on EDI within King’s Business School, and how creating inclusive environments can help everybody flourish.

Aligned to King’s Strategic Vision 2029, the King’s Business School is committed to developing and promoting a diverse and inclusive environment for all our students. The attainment gap (sometimes referred to as the awarding gap) is the difference in groups of students achieving higher classification degrees’ (a First or 2:1).The gap is focused on the Black attainment gap. The development of an inclusive environment for our students, where barriers to learning are removed for all, is a priority. Evidence suggests that experiences and engagement in the University significantly affect the performance of students from underrepresented ethnicity backgrounds.

Listening to our students’ voices

Dr. Ilia Protopapa, Lecturer in Marketing and Inclusive Education Partner at King’s Business School, discusses about the importance of involving students in the design of D&I actions towards closing the attainment gap.

While transitioning from a face-to-face mode of teaching to a flexible delivery plan during the pandemic, we promptly introduced measures to generate insights on what our students felt about diversity and inclusion matters. Involving our students in the design of diversity and inclusion initiatives is an essential part of our strategy. Working closely with our Inclusive Education Students Partners, Angad Khanna, Chloe Abbade, Trisha Benerjee and Pranjal Vig at King’s Business School, and with the aim to inform evidence-driven initiatives, questions to assess students’ perceptions of diversity, inclusion and respect were introduced to the King’s College Institutional Survey run by the WhatWorks department. The King’s Institutional Survey aimed to assess students’ experiences during the first academic term of 2020/21. The first questions on diversity, inclusion and respect were launched in December 2020 and the first set of data was collected and analysed.

What do our students say?

The survey was launched across all King’s College London’s faculties. Overall, students from an ethnic minority across undergraduate and postgraduate levels at King’s Business School suggest that they feel accepted, valued, respected and that racism is actively discouraged. Business students suggested that people’s differences are recognised and respected and that they feel supported to bring the best of themselves to their studies. Our ethnic-minority undergraduate students in year 1 suggest that that they can be themselves without worrying about how they will be accepted (83.37%). Our ethnic minority undergraduate students in year 2 strongly feel that they are valued, and that people’s differences are respected and recognised in the institution (100%). The year 3 ethnic minority undergraduate students feel strongly supported to bring the best of themselves to their studies (100%). Lastly, our ethnic minority postgraduate students (KBS) feel respected (88.64%) and valued (80.00%). Following up on these results, our Inclusive Education Students Partners, Trisha Banerjee and Pranjal Vig are designing and plan to implement student focus groups to elicit qualitative data on students’ experience.

Putting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the heart of the Business School

Mr. Tyler John, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Officer gives an overview of the D&I actions, plan and educational sources for staff and students at College and Business School level.

Events of the last year, including a global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, have reminded us that equality, diversity and inclusion are more important than ever. Every day, we continue to see the disastrous consequences of the socioeconomic disparities that exist across the world; disparities that widen and grow the more they are ignored. In aiming to be a world-leading business school, we must provide our students with a nourishing and accepting learning environment – to do this, equality, diversity, and inclusion must be at the heart of everything we do.

A key tenet of both King’s Vision 2029 and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy is the idea that King’s should not only be a place where everyone can bring their full selves to their work or their studies, but that they should be encouraged to and feel confident doing so. Research suggests that when students feel their identities are accepted and that there are appropriate support mechanisms in place for them, they exhibit ‘greater intellectual and cultural engagement’, ‘better understanding of their field’, and a better ‘overall University experience’.

Over the next year, King’s Business School will be working to establish committed EDI governance within its structure, including an EDI committee and an action plan, to help us embed EDI thinking and behaviours into our everyday business. In the meantime, what can we do to ensure that King’s Business School is a place where everyone can thrive? Here are a few suggestions:

• Develop your understanding of EDI issues. If you’re a member of staff, take part in our Diversity Matters training, to learn more about unpacking your unconscious biases. Take a look at King’s Cultural Competency resources, to kickstart your thinking about how to better engage with new and different perspectives.
• Engage with EDI activity. Join one of our staff networks and help shape the King’s community.
• Attend a Conversations About Race session, to hear more about experiences of race across King’s.
• Join a student forum or staff EDI committee to make your voice heard and be part of the action.
• Learn! We are all responsible for our own learning, so it’s important to seek out new information where you can. Read articles, blogs and journals about new ideas or things you don’t understand, and absorb as much diverse content as possible. You can find guidance and resources relating to EDI on our website, and read (or even contribute to!) our Diversity Digest blog here.

For more information on how you can embed EDI within your teaching or practices, take a

look at the AdvanceHE EDI Hub. You can also take a look at the EDI homepage on the King’s website to read more about our work and how you can get involved.

Cultural competency for graduates and future leaders.

Mr. Antonis Kazouris is a London-based diversity and inclusion (noted as D&I) consultant with extensive experience in employee engagement and experience in leading organisations such as Willis Towers Watson, Coca-cola HBC and IpsosMORI and was invited to offer his perceptive on King’s Business School D&I initiatives towards closing the attainment gap.

Antonis suggests that: ‘Your today’s students are tomorrow’s employees. Listening to students’ and employees’ voices to strategically design initiatives towards a more inclusive society has become a necessity rather than a “good-to-have” option and a moral responsibility for every organisation. A big proportion of businesses are continuously investing on employee listening projects that enable them to listen and understand their employees’ perceptions on D&I, sustainability, culture and other social matters. Businesses inform decisions based on D&I outcomes and seek to hire individuals with cultural competence capabilities more than ever. Offering a diverse and inclusive environment during volatile times requires good listening skills and opportunities for individuals to make their voices heard. King’s strategic research-led approach on inclusive education can help graduates to build the social skills and align them with values that successful companies are looking for, more and more’.

Ilia Protopapa

Dr. Ilia Protopapa is a Lecturer in Marketing and an Inclusive Education Partner (IEP) at King’s Business School. Ilia is working towards diversity and inclusion actions with the aim to close the attainment gap at King’s Business School. She is passionate about designing and promoting inclusive, evidence-driven pedagogic approaches in higher education. Her research interest lies at brand management, consumption value, regulatory focus, brand alliances and higher education.

Tyler John

Tyler John is an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Officer within the EDI Function at King’s College London. He works part-time with both The Dickson Poon School of Law and Kings Business School on shaping and facilitating their EDI initiatives.

Antonis Kazouris

Antonis Kazouris is a D&I and employee insights consultant with years of experience in designing employee engagement and experience initiatives. Antonis has graduated with an MSc in Human Resources and Organisations from London School of Economics and holds advisory positions in the employee research industry in London and across Europe. He has lead projects on D&I and engagement for Willis Towers Watson, Coca-Cola HBC and IpsosMORI.

As Pride Month draws to a close Sarah Guerra, Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s, reflects on ‘love and rage’ the theme for this weekends UK Black Pride event. 

Picture: KCL LGBT+ Staff Network ‘Proudly King’s’ attending a pride march 

I am currently reading Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez – its been on my list for while and it is a happy coincidence that I am reading it during Pride Month here in the UK. I haven’t finished it yet, but its central character is a black, gay man in his early 20s.  Its set in the early 80s and he is from the Black Country (that’s in the Midlands for those not familiar with English geography). Jessie was raised within a Jehovah’s Witness community. I am finding it both fascinating and also feel quite detached from it. I have had to reflect on this as it is unusual for me. I generally feel absolutely immersed in these kinds of personal narrative novels. I love Zadie Smith, Bernadine Evaristo, Andrea Levy and Meera Syal novels for example – what’s the difference? I am assuming that the stories and characters in those books spoke to me more directly. I felt like I was the characters or knew them. I feel more like a spectator or tourist in Rainbow Milk – maybe that is the writer’s objective? It is something that has caused me to really think deeply as I write to support our King’s College London Pride Month and in particular UK Black Pride.

To honour this particularly difficult year for so many in our communities, UK Black Pride’s 2021 theme is “Love and Rage”.

Why has that theme been chosen?  I feel it is because for so many their identity and their love have to be hidden. That being black or brown in this world – certainly in this country is hard. You then layer other intersections into someone’s identity – different forms of gender expression, loving within the same gender and those challenges multiply – unless we do something to stop that.

UK Black Pride says “We are also raging, disappointed and tired. Our communities continue to be overlooked and undervalued, tokenised and discarded. From constant gaslighting to this country’s steadfast refusal to address and redress structural and institutional racism, we have a lot to be mad about.

Our anger is righteous. Our love is righteous.”

2020 and 2021 has seen many find their voices in a far more determined and collective way. It has opened the eyes of many who have allowed themselves to be sleepy in relation to discrimination and exclusion.

Pride has become, for many, synonymous with a big party, glitter, dancing, music etc. Certainly, when I had the pleasure of going to Mardi Gras in Sydney many years ago, I know I didn’t consider the deeper meaning and messages. I didn’t fully understand or appreciate why my friends felt so happy and free at this event. I, as someone who has only relatively recently understood the breadth of my own sexual orientation and bisexuality have lived my life with the protection of heterosexuality. Living as a heterosexual I never really had to explain my choices of partner or expect any backlash.

This month and every day we all need to challenge our selves to hear and understand other people’s stories which is why I am grateful to Paul Mendez and many others for writing books like Rainbow Milk. We need to examine our own behaviour and consider how we react.  As always Shonda Rhimes (one of my absolute heroes) has recently given me the perfect words (Station 19, Season 4, Episode 10) Travis (has recently discovered his father is ‘in the closet’). He and his father are gradually working through understanding this about themselves and each other.

“Travis: Did you know that for most of my life I thought that it was my fault that you hated me, that I had done something wrong. For you to never come to any of my wrestling matches or meet any of my friends, not coming to my wedding and making mom follow suit. I just I couldn’t figure out why you hated me so much.

Paul: Travis, I could never hate you.

Travis: I know. I mean I know that now. You actually hate yourself. I just wish it didn’t take you so long to figure that out because that night with the soup, I could have used a dad that loved me, who loved himself, but instead, you just walked away.

Paul: I didn’t know what to say.

Travis: You should have said, ‘You’re loved. You’re supported, and the way you feel and how you love is valid. It’s important. You are important. And whoever you love or whatever path you take, I’m gonna be here for you without question or pause or judgment. I’m here for you, and I love you.’”

This short but powerful scene captured the complexity of the society that we are all contributing to that prevents people being able to be themselves and the levels of impact that has for individuals and families and helps explain the ‘Love and Rage’ theme.

I can’t say it better than Shonda Rhimes –

for everyone –

Please know that you are supported and that your love is valid. I work every day to create an environment where you can feel that without question or judgement.

Happy Pride Month everyone.

Resources;

• Visit our EDI pages and explore our LGBT+ work & policies here.
• You can learn more about and get involved with UK Black Pride here.
• Find out more about our LGBT+ staff network Proudly King’s here.
• Get involved with King’s LGBT+ student society here.