Diversity Digest

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King's College London

Category: Uncategorized (Page 3 of 22)

B-MEntor Scheme 2023 – recruitment now open!

December 8, 2022 /

B-MEntor is a cross-institutional London-wide mentoring scheme for academic, research and professional services staff from Black, Asian, Mixed and minority ethnic backgrounds. 

B-MEntor is run in partnership with Queen Mary University London, King’s College London, St George’s University of London, University of the Arts London, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The programme supports King’s Race Equality Action Plan, specifically our commitment to attract, appoint and invest in talent. 

There are two schemes-one for academic and research staff, and one for professional services staff. Please see below for information about each scheme and how to register your interest.

The deadline to register your interest is Thursday 5th January 2023

Information for Professional Services staff 

The requirements for participation in the programme are as follows: 

  • Mentors must be professional services staff from any ethnic background, from first-line managers (managing one person) to senior management- this tends to be grades 6-8 
  • Mentees should be professional services staff up to the level of first-line managers (managing one person)- this tends to be grades 1-6- and self-identify as being from a Black, Asian, Mixed or minority ethnic background, i.e. not white European. 

The mentoring period will be approximately one year, and a training and support package is offered for all parties. The selection and matching of mentors and mentees will take place from mid-January.  

You must be available for the training on the following dates (all taking place online):  

  •  Mentees Thursday 12th January at 10:00-11:30am or Thursday 19th January at 10:00-11:30am    
  • Mentors Thursday 26th January at 2pm -3:30pm or Thursday 2nd February at 10:00-11:30am  

                  
Please register your expression of interest by Thursday 5th January 2023. 

Mentee Registration 

Mentor Registration 

Information for Academic and Research staff 

The requirements for participation in the programme are as follows: 

  • Mentors: must be at Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor/Reader or Professorial level. Mentors can be from any ethnic background. 
  • Mentees: should be at Post-Doctoral to Lecturer level and self-identify as being from a Black, Asian, Mixed or minority ethnic background, i.e. not white European. 

The mentoring period will be approximately one year, and a training and support package is offered for all parties. The selection and matching of mentors and mentees will take place from mid-January.  

You must be available for the training on the following dates (all taking place online): 

  • Mentors Wednesday 25th January at 10:00-11:30am or Wednesday 1st February at 2pm -3:30pm 
  • Mentees Wednesday 11th January at 2pm -3:30pm or Wednesday 18th January at 2pm -3:30pm 

                 
Please register your expression of interest by Thursday 5th January 2023. 

Mentee Registration 

Mentor Registration 

More more information please contact Jennifer Hastings, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager or email diversity@kcl.ac.uk, if you have any queries about this scheme. A complete list of FAQs can be found on UCL’s B-MEntor webpage.

Race Equality Spotlight – Dr Chiamaka Nwosu (Research Fellow, The Policy Institute, King’s Business School)

December 6, 2022 /

At Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we understand the importance of recognising the brilliant contribution of researchers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and have therefore committed to spotlighting their work.

This piece was authored by Dr Chiamaka Nwosu, a Research Fellow based in King’s Business School, to highlight the important work they have been carrying out as an early career researcher. Dr Nwosu specifically dives into their experience of being a researcher, the impact their expertise and research will have on the King’s community, and what they have gained from their experience as a researcher at King’s.

My main research interest has been shaped by my PhD which I completed here at King’s Business school. My research aims and objectives were to explore the factors associated with student Higher Education (HE) participation and attainment in the UK. I was particularly interested in how the student experience differs for students from minority ethnic backgrounds, and how this may impact their HE participation and attainment. I have recently published one chapter of my PhD research titled “Does Study abroad affect student academic achievement” in the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ) and currently in the process of publishing another chapter, which is currently under review.

Before joining the Business School as a Lecturer in Policy Evaluation and Research Fellow at the Policy Institute, I worked at the Widening Participation Department at King’s College, where I was responsible for conducting research on students who may be disadvantaged either due to their ethnic group or widening participation status such as being a first-generation student, coming from a financially disadvantaged family, or receiving a contextual admission offer. This is helpful in identifying disadvantaged students who may struggle with continuation, progression, and/or attainment.

Given that my PhD research and subsequent work on student experience, sense of belonging and self-efficacy among students from minority ethnic backgrounds was conducted using King’s as a case study, my research has direct implications for the university and provides recommendations to improve the higher education experience for students.

From an innovation standpoint, I have also developed KITAASTAT, a web-based statistical software package that makes it easier to understand the results from correlations, hypothesis tests & regressions. This term, I have introduced this as an additional learning tool for students taking the Research Methods module in the MSc in Public Policy and Management programme at the Business School and have received positive feedback from the students on the ease of use, and design of the software.

As a quantitative researcher, one of the biggest challenges to research is data access as data restrictions can severely affect the timescales of a research project as well as limit the quality and validity of the work being done. While working as a researcher at King’s, I have enjoyed certain resources that help moderate these data access concerns. For instance, the Information Compliance team is readily available to work with researchers who require administrative data for research purposes, subject to data protection regulations. Also, being able to work with experienced colleagues who have similar research interests has been extremely valuable as an early career researcher.

 

Further resources:

As part of our mission to more effectively communicate race equality initiatives across the College, we have not only committed to spotlighting the impactful contributions of our Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues, but using our platform to highlight resources we think would be beneficial to all staff.

We encourage you to explore the following:

  • The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team have created an anti-racism and allyship toolkit which includes information and tips on race, racism, anti-racism and allyship. It can be used to support individual learning and/or as part of existing learning opportunities within Directorates, Faculties and Departments.
  • Consider taking Diversity Matters training, which has been specifically designed for King’s staff and updated in response to staff feedback and current staff training needs. Find out more on the EDI training webpages.
  • Request Tackling Microaggressions training for your department, faculty or team! These sessions discuss the formation of bias, how that manifests into microaggressions and what we can do to challenge microaggressions when we experience and/or witness them. This training does not occur on a scheduled basis and will need to be requested. If you would like us to facilitate a session, please get in touch at diversity@kcl.ac.uk.
Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

DHM 2022: Invisible disabilities, Autism and the entangled link with Wellness-

December 5, 2022 /

In our latest blog to mark UK Disability History Month Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant Adam Perry explores this years theme ‘Disability, Health and Well Being’. Adam reflects on his own lived experiences of wellness as a person living with invisible disabilities. 

Events to mark Disability History Month and explore this years theme further are taking place across King’s and you can find out about these here.  

The lead image shows a large red heart on a yellow background. The heart contains the text 'Disability, health and well being'. A large crack runs down the length of the heart, separating the words.

The concept of wellness is interesting and what that means to people seems incredibly variable. When I think of wellness, I think of mental and emotional wellness. Which can be much harder to have agency over, particularly when wellbeing is inextricably linked to culture, attitudes and perceptions.  

This leads me to reflect on my own experiences of wellness, as someone with invisible disabilities.  From my experience, with invisible disabilities it can be incredibly difficult to get people to listen, let alone adapt. It can feel like listening and making adjustments is considered optional/nice to have. Maybe this is because if a condition isn’t visible, people can distance themselves because they aren’t confronted by the impacts?  

I have Asperger’s syndrome, a form of Autism. Many people have heard of Autism, but if honest, people likely have limited awareness which is influenced by stereotypes. This is reflected in a YouGov poll commissioned by Autistica, which found that across the UK there is a real lack of understanding surrounding Autism. This means that in practice, people tend to not consider that presentation and experiences of the condition can differ greatly between individuals. I manage my condition well. I have strong relationships, strong interpersonal skills, am deeply empathetic and navigate nuanced and unclear situations regularly. As a result, it can be unclear to people why I may be asking for adjustments because the challenges I face do not impact the other person.  

To truly include a person with Autism, one needs to be open to listening, be prepared to view people holistically and be prepared to make changes to the status quo or preferred ways of doing things. This may mean embracing the fact that the person experiences challenges which are not personally tangible because of one’s own experiences of the world. People can struggle with this, perhaps feeling a little resentful that they need to change their approach, rather than the person with Autism. The irony is, that Autistic people change their approach to fit in, every day. I think the misconception surrounding Autism being a learning disability (which it is not) has a role to play here. It can be easy to view the person as deficient in some way or characterise them as inflexible… which I have certainly experienced. Yet the reality is that looking through the lens of the Social Model of Disability, people are disabled by barriers in society, not their impairments. Autistic people are not asking for people to share the same view of the world, rather, to try to understand their view of the world.  

Having to battle to be listened to and heard, to be considered and supported is hard. To regularly monitor that hard fought adjustments are consistently applied is challenging. To do this, whilst trying to manage other people’s comfort and perception of you and your ability/credibility is exhausting and erodes wellbeing. Whilst this is based on my lived experience, I can confidently say that it is not an isolated experience. One only needs to look at the fact that The Autistica Employment Plan  highlights that only 2 in 10 Autistic people have a job to see that there is a systemic issue here, and one which needs action.  

The good news takeaway? You can positively impact individual experiences and shift culture by taking simple steps such as: 

  • Truly and empathetically listening to who have invisible disabilities 
  • Committing to advancing your own learning 
  • Avoiding making assumptions about people’s abilities, instead consider creating psychologically safe spaces to have honest dialogue 
  • Being proactive in ensuring that support is put in place and consistently applied 
Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

 

DHM 2022: Disability Inclusion At King’s – learning from our mistakes, progress and priorities

November 28, 2022 /

This year’s theme for UK Disability History Month is ‘Disability, Health and Well Being’. This theme invites us to consider how barriers to inclusion affect disabled people’s wellbeing and it also prompts us to reflect on how far we still have to go at King’s to make sure our environment enables disabled members of our community to flourish.  

Events to mark Disability History Month and explore this theme further are taking place across King’s and you can find out about these here.  

In this blog, our Senior Sponsor for Disability Inclusion at King’s, Professor Richard Trembath (Senior Vice President Health & Life Sciences and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners) reflects on the progress we have made in the past two years, the challenges we still face and our priorities going forward.  

Professor Richard Trembath stood in front of display cabinet containing books.

Professor Richard Trembath (Senior Vice President Health & Life Sciences and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners)

Disability Inclusion has been a priority in the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy since 2019 and, to support this, a Disability Inclusion Action Plan and Maturity Model were developed in consultation with King’s staff. King’s also has a dedicated team to support disabled students, the Disability Support & Inclusion Team, and I am pleased to share some of their work below as well.   

Two years ago, we published a blog ‘How far have we come, and how far have we to go?’ in which we reflected on progress on Disability Inclusion at King’s. In that blog myself, and colleagues from EDI and Access King’s were able to share progress in key areas. This included my appointment as Senior Sponsor to ensure disability inclusion is championed among senior leadership and also significant steps forward on digital accessibility and Equality Analysis. Since then, we have continued to make progress and further embed disability inclusion at King’s but we have also faced challenges and have learnt some important lessons along the way. To mark Disability History Month this year I wanted to reflect both on the positive steps we have taken forward but also on those difficult lessons.  and how we plan to learn and grow from them.  

Learning from our mistakes 

At King’s we understand disability through the Social Model, which means we want to focus on removing barriers to create an inclusive work and study environment. While this is our aim, the theme of this year’s Disability History Month calls us to reflect on how well we do this and what the impact is on our disabled staff and students’ wellbeing. Particularly in the last two years we have been confronted with the challenges of making a large historic estate physically accessible to our community. The shortcomings of our buildings and the ability of our processes and structures to find quick and satisfactory resolutions to these barriers, and others, has come to the fore. I hope you will see in the priorities at the end of this blog post that there is work underway to learn from our mistakes, understand where things aren’t working and make sure we work together to overcome these challenges.  

Before sharing those priorities and the positive progress we have made in the last few years, I wanted to start with this acknowledgement that we know we don’t always get it right and we are sorry when our progress is not rapid and responsive enough to meet the needs of our community. We are extremely grateful to our staff and student community who are so generous in sharing their experiences, their concerns and frustrations and help us to understand the impact of this work on their experience at King’s and their wellbeing. In so doing, you push us to do better and we thank you for that.  

Another key area that you have told us needs to improve is how we communicate with the King’s community about the challenges and progress in disability inclusion. I hope this update goes some way to provide insight into the work in this area and I am also pleased to share that we have new pages on the Disability Inclusion Hub to provide more transparency on the Disability Inclusion Steering Group and our Disability Inclusion Action Plan and Maturity Model. 

Progress  

I am delighted to share some of the key areas that have progressed in the last two years. The activity below reflects work from teams across King’s under the four strategic pillars of Disability Inclusion Action Plan:  

  • Leadership, Governance & Culture   
  • Policy, Process & Procedure  
  • Local Experience  
  • Data, Outcomes & Evaluation 

Under each of these four pillars are a range of objectives that aim to address the structural inequalities that impact disabled people at King’s. Work to fulfil these aims is being carried out across King’s. Below I have highlighted some of the key progress that has been made in the last year.  

Leadership, Governance and Culture  
  • The Disability Inclusion Steering Group (DISG) includes key leaders from across King’s whose work focuses on disability inclusion or who can help us embed disability inclusion projects and practices across the College. The DISG now needs to move forward at pace with delivery to a number of key objectives and needs to ensure disability inclusion is connected to our governance structures and has recognition at King’s.  
Policy, Processes & Procedure  
  • Following previous work from the EDI Function to promote Equality Analysis in King’s policy changes and projects, Estates and Facilities are embedding Equality Analysis into their Capital Projects handbook to ensure the big projects involving new buildings for King’s campuses consider the impacts on marginalised groups, including accessibility and inclusion for disabled staff and students.  
Local experience  
  • The Disability Support & Inclusion team have enhanced the support of disabled students through a range of actions including:  
    • Ensuring engagement with the student voice by conducting a student survey in summer 2021. The results of the survey have informed thinking of the DSI Service Strategy and the changes being introduced to better support disabled students in 2022-23. 
    • Working with Residences to review and enhance the Additional Accommodation Requirements (AAR), ensuring appropriate accommodation offers are made to disabled offer holders and students.  
    • Collaborating with faculties and departments to improve adjustments provisions and process for students around assessment and coursework.  
  • A range of new resources have been created to provide information and support to King’s staff and students:  
  • The Centre for Doctoral Studies, with support from the Disability Support & Inclusion team, have developed a reasonable adjustments process for PGR students and are committed to reviewing and continuing to improve this process.
  • The Digital Education Accessibility Task-and-Finish Group have developed the Digital Education Accessibility Baseline. This KEATS course outlines the core principles for digital education accessibility and gives guidance on how to apply them to teaching and learning material. A valuable accompaniment to this course is the Digital Education Blog which provides post offering insight on how different teams across King’s are applying the Baseline.  
  • Access King’s, the Staff Disability Inclusion Network at King’s, has continued to flourish and provide an invaluable space for staff to find community, support and advice. Special mention must go to Abbie Russell who has been integral to the success of the Network since its inception – Abbie steps down as Co-Chair this year and her passion, integrity and collaborative spirit will be much missed. However, Access King’s will no doubt continue to thrive and help hold myself, the EDI Function and all those working on disability inclusion to account.  
  • Disability Inclusion has been embedded in two new EDI training courses introduced by the EDI Function:  
    • The Introduction to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion e-learning module launched in April 2022 to provide a baseline introduction to the Equality Act 2010, discrimination and EDI at King’s.  
    • The relaunch of Diversity Matters training in October 2022 following the procurement of a new training provider brought in to deliver a new version of the training based on revised learning objectives and consultation with the King’s community.  
  • Estates & Facilities have renewed King’s membership with AccessAble who provide accessibility audits and information for King’s campuses. Access Guides are provided for all King’s buildings and audits of King’s sites are now being used to review and implement accessibility improvements.  
  • King’s took part in a Student Disability Adjustments Passport Pilot which was led by the University of Wolverhampton. The passport is being developed by the Department for Education and aims to help students transition into employment with the support they need to succeed. Through our involvement King’s students were able to directly influence how the scheme is developed.  
Data, Outcomes & Evaluation  
  • The Personal Circumstances Form and Guidance for the Academic Promotions process have been updated to better support disabled staff members going through the promotions round and we hope to have more influence on this process to ensure it is disability smart.  

Priorities 

Based on the lessons learnt from staff and students not getting the adjustments and support they need, many of our priorities and actions for the next year focus on improving how this is delivered at King’s and how the governance for disability inclusion ensures responsbility and accountability are clear.  

The Estates & Facilities Directorate have started to introduce a range of new initiatives to improve how accessibility issues are dealt with and how disability inclusive practice is embedded in estate projects and design. A new group is being created to enable specific accessibility challenges to be overseen by the key people who can make decisions and progress adjustments. They are also introducing an accessibility category on the help desk ticket system to ensure accessibility issues are easy to report and are processed quickly to enable swift resolution. Alongside these changes to address existing issues, E&F are also proactively working to embed inclusive design to prevent such issues arising. There is also work underway gathering staff views on office and open plan workspaces, with the aim of improving the accessibility of these spaces.   

Disability Support & Inclusion and the EDI Function are working together, with support from Strategy, Planning & Analytics, to ensure disability inclusion is effectively embedded in governance at King’s and responsbility and accountability for this work is clear to the whole King’s community. It is important that disability inclusion is effectively connected to the new Staff and Culture Strategy Committee and the priorities of King’s Strategy 2026.        

The EDI Function will prioritise improving the processes and support relating to staff disability adjustments. This will include the launch of the Staff Adjustments Passport as well as training and guidance for line managers and other key staff members who play an important role in the adjustments process. The EDI Function will also review King’s Disability Policy to ensure it meets the needs of the King’s community and includes Workplace Adjustments more clearly. 

As mentioned at the start of this blog, communication has also been highlighted as a key priority and the EDI Function will work with colleagues across the College to improve how we share updates and issues and keep our community better informed. The EDI Function will continue to utilise the Disability Inclusion Hub to provide updates and they will also commission new blogs about disability, accessibility and inclusion at King’s.  

Celebrating key dates, such as Disability History Month provides the opportunity to shine a light on the contributions and experiences of disabled staff and students in our community has always been a priority for many across the College. Access King’s have a fantastic range of events planned for the next year and there is also work underway to find a permanent home for the Neurodiversity at King’s display created by the KCL Neurodiversity and Mental Health Student Society.  

I am confident that with the commitment of so many, that the changes and developments outlined above will help us to better respond to the needs of our community. I hope this update has been helpful and has given you a sense of the fantastic achievements that have been made alongside the important lessons we have faced.  

If you would like to learn more about Disability Inclusion at King’s you can go to the Disability Inclusion Hub (for staff) and the Disability Support & Inclusion (for students) intranet pages.  

 

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

 

Trans Day of Remembrance 2022

November 16, 2022 /

Sunday 20th November is Transgender Day of Remembrance. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant (lead for LGBTQ+ Inclusion), Adam Perry, explores the statistics and significance of this day. 

CONTENT NOTE: Transphobia, Violence and Murder, Discrimination, Sexual Violence

Transgender day of remembrance will be taking place on Sunday 20th November. This is an international day which takes place to remember and honour trans and non-binary people who have been murdered because of transphobic violence and hate crime. The day originally started in 1999 by trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour Rita Hester, a trans woman who was killed in 1998.

Violence directed at trans and non-binary people for exercising their basic right to exist within society is sadly not uncommon. Transrespect versus Transphobia  run a Murder Monitoring Project which started in April 2009 as a cooperation between Transgender Europe (TGEU) and the academic online magazine Liminalis – A Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance. Information from the Murder Monitoring Project Name list estimates that between October 2021 and September 2022, 327 trans and non-binary people have been murdered globally. Sadly, these numbers include a UK citizen, with a 28-year-old being fatally stabbed in Downpatrick. The data is based on internet reports and activist reported data, as it is challenging to obtain accurate numbers. The actual number is likely much higher.

It is important to acknowledge that the trans and non-binary community is not a homogenous group. It is vital to use an intersectional lens to understand transphobia and trans violence. Of the 327 people who tragically lost their lives to transphobia:

  • 95% were trans women or trans feminine people;
  • Where occupation was known, 50% were sex workers;
  • 65% of the reported murders were Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic*;

*The Trans Murder Monitoring Project uses the term ‘racialised people’ to refer to those that have been negatively racialised or racialised as ‘other’, within King’s and the UK, we would use Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, although we understand that there isn’t one ‘perfect’ term.

Whilst the focus of Transgender day of Remembrance is on honouring those who are no longer with us, it would be remiss to not acknowledge that murder is just one of the risks of harm faced by trans and non-binary people. At current, media and political discourse is polarised and at times, dehumanising. This can exacerbate the already bleak statistics on transphobia. In the UK, the Galop Hate Crime Report  found that 29% of trans people had been subject to physical violence, whilst 17% had experienced sexual violence. A 2018 Stonewall report into LGBTQ+ students experiences in universities found that 7% cent of trans students were physically attacked by another student or a member of university staff because of being trans and 39% of trans students would not feel comfortable to report this to university staff. The alarming reality is that transphobia (and the harm caused by this) is a feature of our society, and likely exists within our university community.

Show Your Support:

King’s is committed to ensuring trans staff and students are part of a supportive and inclusive work/study environment, and do not face discrimination on the grounds of their gender identity. We are collectively responsible for creating and maintaining a safe and inclusive community. There are several ways in which you can show your support:

  • KCLSU and the Chaplaincy team are holding a vigil Friday 18th November; 5.30- 8pm at Kings College Chapel, Strand Building, details of which are here.
  • Check in with your trans and non-binary students and colleagues. Transgender Day of Remembrance can be an emotionally challenging day for many members of the community.
  • Educate yourself on trans identities and transphobia:
    King’s Trans Matters Toolkit is a good starting point with resources to help managers learn how best to support trans and non-binary staff and information for students and staff on transitioning at King’s.
  • Attend KCLSU Trans Awareness Week festival events.
  • Register your interest in a Trans Matters Training session for your department/faculty by emailing diversity@kcl.ac.uk.

It is important to look after your wellbeing. Transgender Day of Remembrance can be emotive. If you find yourself grappling with unexpected feelings or distress, please do contact the King’s Counselling and Wellbeing Service or the LGBT Switchboard which is available from 10am-12am every day. 

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

 

 

Islamophobia Awareness Month 2022

November 7, 2022 /

This November marks the 10th anniversary of Islamophobia Awareness Month being founded. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Project Officer, Safyan Rahman, explores this years IAM theme ‘Tackling Denial’. 

Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) is a campaign founded in 2012 by a coalition of Muslim organisations. It aims to highlight the impacts that misconceptions and discrimination can have on Muslims and showcase the positive contributions Muslim communities make within society. November 2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of IAM which has spent the last decade rapidly building engagement with supporters, putting on hundreds of events across the country and embarking on several profile-building media campaigns.  

Each year the campaign adopts a theme, with this years’ specific focus ‘Tackling Denial’. It aims to raise awareness of the denial of Islamophobia within political and social spaces, highlighting the dangerous and pervasive impacts such denial can have on Muslims around the globe. Denying or diminishing the existence of Islamophobia, whether institutional or in day-to-day interactions, prevents meaningful conversations on how to tackle Islamophobia. IAM aims to spotlight this theme as a means for generating uncomfortable yet valuable conversations and collective education.  

Islamophobia has a pervasive impact on communities around the world. Opinion polling by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) found that 22% of Britons had negative feelings towards Muslims and that 33% believed equal opportunities had gone too far when it comes to Muslims. In October 2020, the Home Office published data showing that over 50% of the UK’s religious hare crimes had been targeted towards Muslims in the preceding year. In 2014, the Office for National statistics found that Muslim men were up to 76% less likely to find UK employment compared to white, male British Christians of the same age and carrying the same qualifications. Muslim women were 65% less likely.  

These attitudes and actions do not manifest within a vacuum and are often influenced by narratives presented about Muslim communities by national policy-makers, media broadcasters and other prominent media forms, demonstrating that what are traditionally considered ‘overt’ and ‘covert’ acts of Islamophobia are inherently linked. This is evidenced by a 2019 study conducted by the MCB which concluded that the UK coverage of Muslims was predominantly negative, with 59% of industry coverage of Muslim-based stories containing negative themes.  

Islamophobia Awareness Month encourages people to educate themselves on the context of Islamophobia within the UK but also to think proactively about their role in tackling it. Islamophobia will inevitably affect a large portion of King’s Muslim community (staff, students and visitors), making it more important that as a community we actively seek to continue educating ourselves and understand the importance of this campaign. As a starting point, we encourage all members to explore the following resources:  

Educational resources 

Internal resources  

  • Sign up to Active Bystander training on SkillsForge to learn how to become an effective ally for all marginalised communities against bullying and harassment.  
  • Book the the newly updated Diversity Matters training to increase your knowledge on the importance of a diverse workforce.  
  • Contact diversity@kcl.ac.uk if you would like us to put on a Tackling Microaggressions training session within your staff group, directorate or Faculty. Separate sessions for students and staff can be held.  
  • Read the Religion & Belief Policy which outlines our expected behaviour of all members of the King’s community in relation to religion and belief. 
  • Use Report + Support to report any incidents of islamophobia, bullying or harassment, and to receive support.  

For further information on how to get involved with Islamophobia Awareness Month and, be kept up to date on events happening in your local area, and how to spread awareness of the campaign, visit the IAM2022 webpage.  

At King’s we affirm our commitment to the safety of all staff and encourage all to use this month to reflect on how they can further their self-education and get involved with Islamophobia Awareness Month.  

You can also follow the organisers of IAM on Twitter. 

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

Black History Month 2022: What’s on at KCL

October 6, 2022 /

Black History Month 2022

Every October Black History Month is marked across the UK.

This year’s theme for Black History Month is “Time for Change: Action not Words” and we’re committed to ensuring our celebrations at King’s College London inspire and support tangible action.

Throughout the month we will be sharing Black History research and achievements of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic alumni, as well as hosting various events (details below) across the university. At King’s we are committed to creating an anti-racist university and working on initiatives that go beyond the month of October. Later this month we’ll be sharing more on our new race allyship toolkit and race equality maturity model which is currently in development.

To help you get involved with Black History Month at King’s we have pulled together some interesting reads, useful resources and a spotlight on some of our upcoming events in this blog.

Must Reads

Useful Resources

  • You can keep track of what is happening at King’s throughout the month by visiting our staff intranet page here.

 

 

 

  • Follow out team on twitter (@KCLdiversity), we’ll be sharing content throughout the month.

Event Spotlight

Click image to expand the calendar of events

Events taking place across the university this month include:

Afro-Asian solidarities: Lotus and its afterlives exhibition
Thursday 6 October 2022 to Friday 14 October

The exhibition aims at fostering inclusive pedagogy through a focus on the anti-colonial writers and artists of the Afro-Asian Writers Association and their journal Lotus published in Arabic, English and French from Cairo and Beirut (1960s-1980s).

Building on our interdisciplinary expertise we foreground the importance of this neglected body of cultural production from the Global South, stressing its centrality in the making of contemporary global politics and world literature.

Find out more

Shakespeare and Race Festival 2022

The theme of the Shakespeare and Race Festival 2022 is ‘Spoken Word(s)’, withevents and resources available through out the month.

The festival will also showcase new and exciting creative work from the Folger Institute, as well as ground-breaking research from Shakespeare and Race scholars from around the world. This year, the Festival is co-produced and co-sponsored by King’s.

Find out more

Black Heroes of Mathematics Conference Watch Party!

We are warmly inviting you to “Black Heroes of Mathematics Conference Watch Party!” We have dedicated rooms to watch this year’s conference, organised by LMS. Details on the event can be found here: https://www.lms.ac.uk/events/black-heroes-mathematics Please check below when and where you can watch the talks at KCL: Schedule:
– 4/10/22 13:00-16:30 Talks broadcast at Room: FWB 1.20 (Waterloo Campus).
– 5/10/22 10:00-12:00 Talks broadcast at Room: S-1.08 (Strand Building).
– 5/10/22 12:00-13:00 Lunch will be offered at Room: K2.29 (King’s building).
– 5/10/22 13:00-15:30 Talks broadcast at Room: K0.19 (King’s building).
The rooms have specific capacity so the attendance will be monitored at first come first serve base.

Find out more

Events calendar:

The Windrush Compensation Scheme – is justice finally being served?
Wednesday 5 October, 18.30 – 20.00

Set up to right the wrongs committed against the victims of the Windrush Scandal, the Windrush Compensation Scheme ( WCS ) has been in operation for over 3 years. The WCS has been subject to significant criticism which has led to some reform. The panel will provide a current assessment of the WCS and whether it is finally delivering justice.

Register here

Launch event: Afro-Asian solidarities: Lotus and its afterlives exhibition
Thursday 6 October, 18.30 – 20.00

The exhibition aims at fostering inclusive pedagogy through a focus on the anti-colonial writers and artists of the Afro-Asian Writers Association and their journal Lotus published in Arabic, English and French from Cairo and Beirut (1960s-1980s). Building on our interdisciplinary expertise we foreground the importance of this neglected body of cultural production from the Global South, stressing its centrality in the making of contemporary global politics and world literature.

Register here

Black Students Talk: Self-Expression
Thursday 6 October, 18.30 – 20.30

Black Students Talk (BST) is a peer support group that provides safe, supportive and therapeutic spaces for students at King’s who identify as Black (African, Caribbean, Mixed with Black heritage) to meet, share, learn and manage their mental health and wellbeing. These sessions are run by students, for students!

On Thursday 6 October, BST will be kicking off for the new academic year with a Black History Month session on Self-expression. Come along to Guy’s Hodgkin Building Classroom 11 for a thoughtful discussion in a warm and welcoming environment.

Find out more about BST on the KCLSU website

Black Student Leaders Meet and Greet
Monday 10 October, 18.00 – 20.00

Join us in the Vault to meet others in the King’s Black students community and say hello to some of our Black Student Leaders heading up our societies, networks and rep roles. Discover their plans and campaigns for the year to come as well as finding out more about plans for Black History Month!

Sign up here

Roundtable discussion on Black Political Thought

Tuesday 11 October, 17:00 – 20:00

What is the history of Black political thought – as a subject, as a disciplinary field? What should​ it be ? How should historians and other scholars think of it now? Join the KCL History Department and the Medicine and the Making of Race Project for an evening discussing these and other questions with an all star panel of experts in the field, including:
– Dr Tonya Haynes, University of the West Indies.
– Professor Tommy Curry, Edinburgh
– Dr Kesewa John, UCL
– Dr Dalitso Ruwe, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
– Dr Meleisa Ono-George, Oxford
– Chair: Professor Richard Drayton, KCL

Sign up here

Race and Healthcare in Brixton

Wednesday 12 October, 12:30 – 14:00

Joining us for a discussion about healthcare, race and activism in Brixton, Paul Addae, from the Brixton community organisation Centric, and colleagues open the floor up to history students and interested others to learn about both the long history of activism in Brixton and the legacy that that history has had for the current, dynamic activist agenda around healthcare.
In a conversation that takes us from the limitations of healthcare now to the history of an activist community to the history and contemporary of race and racism in our country now, this discussion with the ‘off stage historians’ of Brixton offers the opportunity to delve into critical contemporary issues as these are refracted through the lens of healthcare.

Sign up here

Black & Minority Ethnic Experiences in Higher Education
Monday 17 October, 17:00 – 18:15

King’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team invite you to join Professor Kalwant Bhopal and Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin talk about the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic people in higher education.

This event has been designed to reflect this year’s Black History Month theme (Time for Change: Action not Words) and audience participation is encouraged. It is free to attend but space is limited so please book your place. If you have any access requirements then please contact diversity@kcl.ac.uk

Register here

Engaging with Blackness – a showcase of some current CMCI research

Monday October 17, 16:30pm – 18:00

Kings Building, K-1.56

This event is intended to introduce you all to some of the current research happening in the CMCI department, that in some way engages with Blackness. In addition to finding out more about the department’s research activity, this event encourages us all to think more reflectively about ourselves as academic researchers. Each of the speakers will provide a short presentation, followed by a conversation (including audience questions) that will be moderated by Dr Jonathan Ward. There is no need to register for this event.

Liberation Ball: Panel and Performance
*UPDATE – Postponed to February 2023*

Join us for our very own Liberation Ball, a homage to London’s queer ballroom scene. This event will be a celebration of achieving liberation through art. We will begin with an informative and exciting panel of London ballroom icons, exploring the history of ballroom culture and its significance to the black, queer, and trans communities. Followed by a ball itself where students will have the opportunity to walk in three categories (Runway, Best Dressed and Vogue) and showcase their talent.

Find out more and register here

 

Meet Juliana Oladuti, the Author of ‘Queen’ for a reading + Q&A, followed by a social

Tuesday 18 October, 13:30-15:30

Activity Room D (Bush House South East Wing, 300 StrandvWC2R 1AE

Join us in celebrating Black History Month with the launch of a fantastic new book “Queen” presented by the author, Juliana Oladuti, on the day. We’ll have a reading & Q&A followed by a social.

Book Synposis: From a tradition of oral storytelling, Juliana, a Nigerian in her seventh decade, decided to challenge herself by putting pen to paper and writing the story of Queen. A bright village child who, despite being born into a culture and at a time when girls were not valued, Queen is forced to undertake an odyssey. The journey takes her through West and North Africa and eventually to Europe.

Sign up here.

Daniell Lecture

Wednesday 19 October, 15:15 – 18:00

PhD student Desmond Koomson will talk about his journey into chemistry research and his current and previous research ahead of the Daniell Speaker guest speaker (Professor Sir David Klenerman FMedSci FRS, Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge).

Sign up here

Estates & Facilities Black History Month Celebration
Thursday 20 October, 11.00 – 13.30

The E&F EDI Race Equality Workstream are holding an event to celebrate Black History Month. This would be an opportunity to celebrate our colleagues success across E&F and discuss remaining challenges.

Register here

Choreographing Freedom: Sound Images of a Black Revolution
Tuesday 25 October, 17.15 – 18.45

In late twentieth-century Britain, Black women, queer folks and transfeminine people were crafting new ways of living. Situated in the heart of Empire, outlaw women, erotic dreamers and gender rebels refused to adhere to the prevailing norms and codes that organised their lives. These adventures with beauty, sex, pleasure and performance offered blueprints for imagining a radically different world.

In a series of extracts from Bentil’s forthcoming book, Rebel Citizen, she explores the lives of those whose stories resist the dominant narrative of History and the insurgent desires that shaped the everyday revolution of Black life in 1970s and 1980s London.

Register here

Film screening and conversation with filmmaker Carl Earl-Ocran

Tuesday 25 October. 18:00 – 20:00

This event will comprise of a screening of the short films ARACHNID and HACKNEY DOWNS (both written and directed by Carl Earl-Ocran.) This will be followed by a drinks reception and conversation and audience Q&A, moderated by Dr Jonathan Ward (CMCI). This event will be live-captioned throughout.

Carl is a British-Ghanaian writer and director, with a passion for storytelling. His aim is to tell long form narratives with personal yet universal themes, sharing emotive, character-driven, socially conscious stories with compelling high concepts, highlighting, in particular, underrepresented voices.

Sign up link

Dismantle King’s Colonial Legacy Campaign Launch
Wednesday 26 October. 17.00 – 21.30

This is the launch event for a student and staff led campaign to Dismantle King’s Colonial Legacy. This event is open to all interested students and staff, and will feature a variety of talks from activists and academics, group discussions and performances.

Sign up here

Anti-Racism and Health: Levels of Health Intervention – Leverhulme Lecture by Visiting Professor, Camara Jones
*UPDATED DATE*

Monday14 November, 19.00 – 20.30

In this, the first in a series of three public lectures on Anti-Racism and Health to be offered by Professor Camara Jones during the year, she will make the case that “racial” health disparities cannot be eliminated until racism is named and addressed. Engaging with audience members in a spirited conversation exploring the pertinence of these ideas in the United States and United Kingdom contexts.

Register here

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

Embedding Digital Accessibility to the heart of everyday TEL work

August 31, 2022 /

This article was first published in KCL’s Digital Education Blog on the 19th April.

 

This article has been divided in two parts:

  • Part 1 Laura Patari a Technology-Enhanced Learning Officer in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy discusses how the SSPP TEL team works to boost staff understanding of digital accessibility baseline.
  • Part 2 provides an overview of the TEL training sessions available on the subject.
Allyship:

“the state of being an ally (= a person who helps and supports somebody) to a particular group of people that you yourself do not belong to, in order to help ensure their basic rights and ability to be happy and successful in society”- Oxford learner’s dictionary

What does digital accessibility mean to me? It means being able to embrace a platform for its intended use, because the people building it know how to create a great user experience – anticipating, rather than reacting to the needs of our diverse learning community. Being an ally.

At the moment, there is still room for improvement at King’s College London. The urgent relevance of focusing on digital accessibility as a King’s community cannot be stated better than it does in the recent Student Digital Accessibility Report from Miranda Melcher.

This report highlighted voices of 540 KCL students on both user experiences of KEATS, module organisation and assessment, as well as teaching and information practices. See a qualitative piece of feedback from SSPP and Arts & Hums students on using KEATS:

 “It’s been really hard using KEATS. Each module lead is using it differently (e.g. interpreting headers differently), the design of it is not accessible and difficult to easily navigate, you have to jump across many different pages to get information needed, pages often don’t match up to the my timetable or teams invites, we don’t get notifications of questions on the forums and some lecturers are not responding quickly or at all on these, etc. Overall the design is just really not user friendly.” (shared by BA SSPP & BA Arts & Hums & SSPP MA students)

My takeaways from the wider report focused on the challenge that a lot of user experience issues are broad, making it difficult to make quick changes: we are talking about module level issues repeated across faculties. It’s a grassroot issue that spreads across fields. However, a connecting thread can be suggested as knowledge gaps on basics of digital accessibility.

How Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP) TEL integrate Digital Accessibility to our information resources, training and wider strategy

In the next part of this blog I will discuss how the SSPP TEL team work to plug knowledge gaps and encourage early onboarding of SSPP colleagues to boost staff understanding of digital accessibility baseline.

Part 1: TEL Hubs

Over the past 6 months, the SSPP TEL team have rebuilt our Faculty Hub and TEL Hub. These pages act as faculty-level repositories of information aimed at staff and students. Including digital accessibility to these repositories was a core goal of the project. Below are some practical examples of how I embedded these to the faculty pages.

Allyship: the state of being an ally (= a person who helps and supports somebody) to a particular group of people that you yourself do not belong to, in order to help ensure their basic rights and ability to be happy and successful in society • Oxford learner’s dictionary What does digital accessibility mean to me? It means being able to embrace a platform for its intended use, because the people building it know how to create a great user experience – anticipating, rather than reacting to the needs of our diverse learning community. Being an ally. At the moment, King’s could do a lot better. The urgent relevance of focusing on digital accessibility as a King’s community cannot be stated better than it does in the recent Student Digital Accessibility Report from Miranda Melcher: The current online learning experience for students at King’s is one of interesting, relevant, and high-quality content, that students are impeded from learning from fully due to poor and inconsistent organisation and access to information. This report highlighted voices of 540 KCL students on both user experiences of KEATS, module organization and assessment, as well as teaching and information practices. See a qualitative piece of feedback from SSPP and Arts & Hums students on using KEATS: “It's been really hard using KEATS. Each module lead is using it differently (eg interpreting headers differently), the design of it is not accessible and difficult to easily navigate, you have to jump across many different pages to get information needed, pages often don't match up to the my timetable or teams invites, we don't get notifications of questions on the forums and some lecturers are not responding quickly or at all on these, etc. Overall the design is just really not user friendly.” (shared by BA SSPP & BA Arts & Hums & SSPP MA students) Interested to dive deeper? Read the Student Digital Accessibility Report. (link) My takeaways from the wider report focused on the challenge that a lot of user experience issues are broad, making it difficult to make quick changes: we are talking about module level issues repeated across faculties. It’s a grassroot issue that spreads across fields. However, a connecting thread can be suggested as knowledge gaps on basics of digital accessibility. How Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP) TEL integrate Digital Accessibility to our information resources, training and wider strategy In the next part of this blog I will discuss how the SSPP TEL team work to plug knowledge gaps and encourage early onboarding of SSPP colleagues to boost staff understanding of digital accessibility baseline. Part 1: TEL Hubs Over the past 6 months, the SSPP TEL team have rebuilt our Faculty Hub and TEL Hub. These pages act as faculty-level repositories of information aimed at staff and students. Including digital accessibility to these repositories was a core goal of the project. Below are some practical examples of how I embedded these to the faculty pages.

A dedicated section for digital accessibility was built in the TEL Hub. The section gave an introduction and housed four levels of information for staff:

  1. Quick Resources: checklists from across CTEL and KCL faculties for daily tasks on KEATS, MS Office and CMS. The aim of this section was to highlight guides that had a short read time that ensured “quick wins”.
  2. KEATS and file accessibility section was added to ensure staff knew about basic functions of Blackboard Ally and where to find central guidance and training
  3. Designing for diverse learners: this expanded on the quick resources with a focus on web accessibility and universal user design in both infographic and text format. Resources were brought in from internal (CTEL) and external (for example gov.uk) sources.
  4. Policies and regulations: this section included reminders such as KCL accessibility report, along with KCL D&I commitments that aimed at putting the above resources to the institutional context.

For a closer look, you can explore the digital accessibility section yourself by navigating to the SSPP TEL Hub (only available to KCL staff members).

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

Inclusive Britain

August 24, 2022 /

Jennifer Hastings, EDI Projects & Partnerships Manager at King’s College London explores the UK Government’s recently published Inclusive Britain report and the potential implications for King’s as a leading university. 

 

Inclusive Britain is the government’s response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities investigation that was published on the 31st March 2021 and made 25 recommendations. The actions outlined in Inclusive Britain are wide ranging, covering areas such as health, education and even the language we use. It isn’t without critics (some condemn its push to ‘de-politicise’ racial inequality and focus on individual action rather than structural change) however this blog aims to provide an insight into the potential implications on King’ rather than debate its merit. The below list is by no means exhaustive- there are 74 actions that will interest the King’s community to varying extents and we’re keen to hear from anyone whose work is impacted by the report. 

Terminology and data collection 

There’s a number of actions pertaining to the language we use and therefore the data we collect. The government has stopped using the acronym ‘BAME’, an umbrella term, and the Racial Disparities Unit (RDU) plans to consult on the best way to record and communicate ethnicity data and issues. 

We know that language is important. It has an impact on accessibility, inclusion and people’s sense of belonging. We also know that there’s often disagreement over the ‘right’ terminology to use. In our recent race equality survey, we asked staff and students for alternatives to BME (Black, Minority Ethnic) and the results varied, however many did recommend referring to an individual’s ethnicity rather than using an umbrella term. We are currently developing our own guidance on terminology and look forward to sharing across King’s. 

Artificial Intelligence 

Actions around artificial intelligence (AI) include addressing racial bias in algorithmic decision making. Richard Salter, Director of Analytics at King’s says: “The use of AI technology is still very much in its infancy in terms of Professional Services at King’s but we’re cognisant of the opportunities and risks, so the recommendations around bias in algorithms, including disproportionate impact on minority groups are very pertinent. If there was a national algorithmic standard this would certainly be beneficial and I would expect we would want to at least be in line with this. We are hoping to establish an Ethical Use policy for AI for Professional Service at King’s as part of the Senior Data Governance Committee which was set up last year.” 

Health and clinical research 

King’s has four health faculties and so any actions related to public health and services are going to be of interest. There will be a health disparities white paper (although this is not solely focused on race but will also consider other factors such as socioeconomic status), a review of potential racial biases in medical equipment, steps to address maternal health disparities and a move to increase ethnic minority participation in research and clinical trials. 

King’s has already been conducting research into health inequalities, such as the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation’s work on socioeconomic inequality in end-of-life care (examples here and here) and the experiences and needs of LGBT people (examples here, here, here and here). 

Student Support and Widening Participation 

Several actions aim to improve student outcomes, which links in with much of the work carried out by the Student Transitions and Outcomes department, such as their approach to closing the attainment gap and Conversations about Race.  King’s is also refreshing its Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which will include an objective to improve mental health outcomes for underrepresented groups. 

What next? 

In terms of accountability, there will be a report to Parliament in March 2022. However, given many of the actions require further research or consultation, I would hope to see a significant amount of public engagement in the meantime. Given King’s has expertise in so many of the areas covered in Inclusive Britain, we have a real opportunity to be sector leading and shape how the UK tackles racism.  

Want to Learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London?

International Non-Binary People’s Day

July 14, 2022 /

International Non-Binary People’s Day is marked annually on the 14th July. This coincides with Non-Binary Awareness Week which this year runs from the 11th – 17th July 2022. The aim of both occasions is to celebrate Non-Binary people globally and raise awareness of the challenges members of the community face.

Non-binary flag

What is non-binary?

The LGBT Foundation have shared the following definition: Non-binary is used to describe people who feel their gender cannot be defined within the margins of gender binary. Instead, they understand their gender in a way that goes beyond simply identifying as either a man or woman. Some non-binary people may feel comfortable within trans communities and find this is a safe space to be with others who don’t identify as cis*, but this isn’t always the case.

*Cis – ‘The word “cis” comes from a Latin word meaning “the same side.” Cisgender is a term used to describe someone whose gender has not changed from the one they were given at birth’ (LGBT Foundation).

Is non-binary new?

The short answer is no!

Non-Binary and gender nonconforming identities have existed throughout history, you just need  to know where to look. Here are some handy Historic England and Britannica articles that explore this in more detail.

What is it like being non-binary in the UK?

Leading LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall explore what it means to be non-binary in the UK today in this article.

How can I be an ally to non-binary people?

Its important that we all take steps big and small to be inclusive and supportive of one another. The charity Stonewall have created a useful list of 10 things you can do to step up and be an ally of non-binary people, you can find it here.

What are we doing to support non-binary members of the KCL community?

We have developed a toolkit full useful guidance on  how to support trans & non-binary members of our university community, we have also produced a map of the gender neutral facilities that can be found across our campuses and we have a wider LGBTQ+ inclusion resource hub, you can find all of this and more here.

We are committed to protecting the dignity of members of our university community. We want a university free of bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct and hate crime. You can find advice, support and reporting procedures on our Dignity at King’s pages.

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