Sarah Guerra, Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London reflects on a recent holiday to the United States and the importance of clear communication. 

I was in America recently. (For those who don’t know my fab partner arranged a lifetime dream trip to Seattle and DC for my 50^th birthday.) The home of the amazing breakfast. So, to Busboys and Poets, one of the eateries in my Washington DC adventure. I ordered Eggs Florentine. For the uninitiated it’s a dish of poached eggs, on spinach and English muffins, covered in hollandaise – pretty luxurious. The perfect Florentine requires poached eggs that when you crack them open, a viscous but clearly runny, golden egg yolk runs out. The dish arrives – after quite a while. I excitedly break into my eggs. There is always the moment of anticipation – what will they be like? These were sadly too solid, not completely solid but definitely not runny. I ponder whether I should accept them and decide not. I call the waitress over and (in my view) explain that the eggs are overcooked and unsatisfactory. She says, ‘Oh I didn’t know that’s how you wanted them’. I feel puzzled about this – it is my common experience that the eggs need to be runny – I shouldn’t need to make a special request.

Anyway, I write it off as perhaps an inexperienced staff member or difference between Brits and Americans. I’m on holiday. I am determined to be joyous.  Anyway, sometime later the eggs arrive back. I excitedly crack in – imagine my shock and disappointment when the eggs are even more cooked than previously. (I should probably add in here that I absolutely detest hard boiled eggs.) I think about it for a while and at this point am also wondering if I should give up. After all at this point my ‘breakfast time’ has pretty much run out. Plus do I want the stress, confrontation and conflict? I am focusing on JOY!

I collect myself and call the waitress over. I say I think we have had a misunderstanding. These eggs are even harder than the first set. She looks at me. ‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’ I realise in that moment that one way or another, through either my assumptions or hers, my lack of specific words or her distracted listening – she has understood the exact opposite of what I wanted. She has in this situation done her best to meet my needs but has completely misunderstood them. And/or I have completely miscommunicated them.

This felt like such a ‘teachable moment’ for equality, diversity and inclusion.  What are our communications based on? They are based on our existing frame of reference, experience and set of assumptions.  This is what all the bias training that we all do has been trying to help us understand. It is also based on how well are we paying attention? How much are we clarifying and checking versus assuming and dashing to please or deliver.

That same day not long after the eggs resolution I had a very similar experience with my partner. In response to a question, he indicated a response that I instinctively interpreted in completely the opposite way to that which he intended.  We as is our way ended up bickering, both continuing from our perspective, understanding and assumptions. On another occasion we might have ended up nearly full out arguing. But based on the recent experience highlighting how easily I am misunderstood and how easily individuals misinterpret each other – I forced myself to step back and deconstruct the situation. This helped us both see how we were misunderstanding each other.

The outcome at the restaurant was finally a perfect eggs Florentine that I enjoyed very much. In my relationship it was (after 22 years) a revelation and deepening of our understanding of each other. When I think about it, I am hoping that the waitress (and my partner) both felt reflective and respected. I am hopeful that all of us in the future in that situation will think about how to check that we are understood rather than feeling aggrieved. I pride myself on being a quick thinker and someone who is decisive, but these two incidents really helped me to see how much better a listener and reflector I need to be if I am going to be the effective, collaborative, inclusive leader I want to be.

This is the first blog in a new ‘day in the life’ series from KCL’s Diversity Digest blog. In this new feature we will go behind the scenes, getting to know our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Team and find out more about their work. 

Our latest ‘day in the life’ feature comes from Sophie Rust (she/her) an EDI Project Officer. 

Sophie Rust, EDI Project Officer.

My name is Sophie Rust and my pronouns are she/her. I’m an EDI Project Officer and I’ve been in the role for over a year now – time flies! Before starting in EDI I worked with lovely colleagues in the Careers & Employability Team. I worked for a charity previously and my (sort of) claim to fame is being the first employee of the now quite successful startup, Huel.  

I came to King’s as my friend, and now colleague in Arts & Humanities, Flo Cowan, told me it was a really nice place to work. She wasn’t wrong! King’s is full of hard working and creative people, who are kind and always ready to help. I’ve had a fantastic time working here, most of it during the pandemic where MS Teams became our new best friend. Shout out to my then manager in Careers Charles Kasule for getting us up to speed on Teams well before we really needed it – that was excellent timing! 

EDI has always been an interest for me before it became a job. My work in a human rights charity touched on equality in relation to cases before the European Court of Human Rights. When I was in Careers, an important question for me was how we can increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds in co-curricular programmes such as the King’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship scheme. I also worked with Gya Niyazi to ringfence a percentage of the Student Opportunity Fund specifically for Black students to address the specific disadvantages Black graduates face including the awarding gap and in graduate outcomes. This eventually led me to apply for a position in the EDI team and I’ve not looked back. 

Every day is different in this role. I also split my time between the EDI team and the Faculty of Arts & Humanities which mixes things up nicely. I might be delivering some microaggressions training in the morning, and attending a Faculty Diversity & Inclusion Committee meeting in the afternoon, where we will be hearing from each department about different initiatives. I might be attending the Athena Swan Delivery Team meeting and taking notes on the implementation of gender equality actions, then I’ll be taking time to research disability inclusion best practice.  

I think one of the things I enjoy most about my role is engaging with staff and students. I had the privilege last year of supporting MA Philosophy student Ursula Blythe with a seminar series entitled Dis/ability & Dialogue. I learnt so much from hearing Ursula speak about activism and philosophy and the lived experience of disability. The four-part seminar series was grant-funded by the Arts & Humanities Diversity & Inclusion Grant which supports a number of local staff and student-led projects. It’s a pleasure to see the impact of these projects and the variety of activities undertaken.  

For International Women’s Day this year former student and Head of the Poetry Soc Karen Ng read a poem that she had composed based on visions of a more equal world contributed on our padlet by the King’s community. The poem was incredible, and you can read and listen to it here. I was lucky to be involved in the organisation of this event, which also welcomed Aleida Borges from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership to speak about the Institute’s work and her own research on women’s grassroots leadership. It’s amazing to get to work with staff and students from all over King’s.  

Something I love about the EDI team is how collaborative it is. We don’t all work on the same projects, and considering the Projects and Partnerships Team are also based in faculties, we are sometimes quite separate. That’s why it’s great to come together for our weekly team meeting to brainstorm ideas, and get feedback on our work. We share best practice from our faculties, and I find bouncing ideas off the team always helps. We check in on our wellbeing and give each other feedback and praise. It’s a lovely ritual and I recommend including it in your team meetings if you can. 

When there is a pause in the day, I might be found drinking a coffee outside of the Terrace Café (Macadam Building) – a place I only discovered recently as I started to venture more to campus. You get a lovely view of the Thames. As you can see in this picture it was so sunny I had my sunglasses on!  

In my spare time, I’m learning German at the Modern Languages Centre and I’ve started bouldering. Both are great stress-relievers as you can’t think about anything else whilst you are doing them!

You can learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London and get in touch with Jessica & the team by visiting our webpages. 

This is the first blog in a new ‘day in the life’ series from KCL’s Diversity Digest blog. In this new feature we will go behind the scenes, getting to know our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Team and find out more about their work. 

Our third ‘day in the life’ feature comes from Helena Mattingley (she/her), Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at KCL. 

Helena Mattingley, Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.

I’m Helena Mattingley (she/her) and I’ve worked at King’s for seven or so years. I started out in Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, and moved to Arts & Sciences, before moving in, and more recently out, of Human Resources. The work I do is a blend of strategic, operational and opportunistic, and requires attention to process as well as people.  

Each day is different, and I like the variety of skills I need to use. It’s that variety, as well as the purpose of my role and the people I work with which I find motivating.  

The EDI function has two main teams: the Consultancy team and the Projects and Partnership team. Each have skilled practitioners who will also be writing their ‘day in the life of…’ and you can read about their days here. I manage the Consultancy team. Together, with the EDI Projects and Partnerships Manager, we deliver the university wide programme activity, such as Gender Equality, Disability Inclusion, LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Race Equality. My team is also responsible for leading the Equality Analysis framework, and working as internal consultants on a range of EDI challenges. You can learn more about our work in our EDI Annual Report.   

In addition to managing the Consultancy team, I am responsible for my own specific portfolio. I lead on gender equality, EDI data strategy and reporting, legal compliance, and a number of other pieces which need my input.  

I head into campus a day or two each week, and use the time to meet face to face. When I’m working remotely, I have a mix of online meetings and ‘desk time’. 

This morning, I’ve blocked out time to prepare for the HR Recruitment Review. I’m involved in the Operating Model workstream, and I need to be able to contribute constructively and flag EDI specific needs. It’s important for EDI to be embedded and well considered in university decisions, so being an active participant through working groups, or through connecting through strategic Equality Analyses and reviewing policies is important.  

After my preparation, I check in on some finance pieces. I need to make sure that I’m happy with the information EDI are contributing into the business planning round. The commitments King’s has made through Athena Swan, Race Equality and EDI action plans needs to be resourced, planned and aligned with Vision 2029 Refresh.  

It’s unusual for me to have a whole morning or afternoon without a call. So much of the work EDI do is collaborative, and it’s through connecting with our colleagues in a purposeful way which helps continually improve what we do. I like to have tea with me on a call, making a cup helps me switch task as I’m away from my laptop.  I’ve recently been working with AdvanceHE to inform their EDI data guidance, helping them see the implementation challenges from a university’s perspective.  

The EDI Function uses MS Teams as our main workspaces, we use MS Teams to share information, resolve issues, and collaborate online. I keep an active eye on notifications and new posts, so I can maintain oversight, seek/give input, and communicate information easily. MS Teams enables us to crowd source information from the EDI Function which helps with our transparency, effective working and helps us to smoothly cover each other if anyone is unwell. Using MS Teams helps us to be a team, and weather the unpredictability of our work. 

The Consultancy Team huddle twice a week. This is an informal short meeting where we do work which isn’t easily done over MS Teams posts. This could be debriefing, brainstorming, or supportively challenging each others plans, it’s a useful half an hour to come together and work through any issues.  

I take a break over lunch. I make bread once or twice a week, so cheese on toast is a fairly common lunch option. I prefer to use this time for my errands as it breaks up my day, although I appreciate I have the flexibility to plan my time to work to suit me. My partner is a teacher, so to get the most out of our evenings, I choose to work earlier in the day. 

After lunch, I’ll read the updates on MS Teams which require deeper thought or input, e.g. reviewing communications for More than Mentoring and the Disability Reporting Government Consultation. I’ll also prompt the EDI Function to input into our paper for Academic Board, and make sure it’s moving ready for the deadline.  

I am fortunate to have collaborated with many colleagues at King’s on a British Council funded gender equality partnership with five Indian institutions, called GATI. I provide steer to Tushti Kapoor, who leads on the coordination to make sure we deliver out project plan – so hearing that the Action Learning Sets are in calendars and that a missing meeting link has been solved helps me feel confident we are keeping to our timelines. The peer mentors from King’s who directly work with our partners are all fantastic, and the intention is for a mutually beneficial knowledge exchange.  

One of our shared practices as an EDI function is sharing ‘read outs’ from meetings, so as I join my afternoon meeting, I’m already thinking of what information I need to share, who may have useful input, and what we can offer as a team. I add my notes direct to a shared platform, and write a quick note to the team with a summary.  

I try and hold an hour each day to work on a specific piece of work, putting time into Athena Swan work, data or whatever needs my time. My days don’t always go as planned, but having a bit of time which can flex to demand helps enormously. I plan my time on outlook, and so as pieces come in, I rearrange to make the most of each week.  

At the end of the day, I look ahead to see what’s in store for the next day, and close my laptop. As it’s been getting lighter, I’ve taken myself out for a walk after work. Currently, there’s the late stage daffodils and blossom out and it’s a joy to see.  

Back at home, I really enjoy cooking; the kitchen is usually my favourite room in any house. With the radio for background, my partner and I will prep onions, garlic and chilli and talk about our days. I’m pescatarian, so Meera Sodha’s Fresh India or Sally Butcher’s Snackistan are frequently on the kitchen counter for reference.    

We’ll watch something together, do a bit of life admin, or read our respective books – typically something quieter on a school night. We see a group of friends on Fridays, which helps indicate the change into the weekend.  

You can learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London and get in touch with Jessica & the team by visiting our webpages. 

This is the first blog in a new ‘day in the life’ series from KCL’s Diversity Digest blog. In this new feature we will go behind the scenes, getting to know our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Team and find out more about their work. 

Our second ‘day in the life’ feature comes from Jessica Cole (she/her) our EDI Project Administrator. 

Jessica Cole, EDI Project Administrator.

My name is Jessica, pronouns are she/her and I started working as an EDI Project Administrator at King’s in January 2022.  

When I’m not commuting to the office, I usually start my day with some “at home exercises” which usually consists of weight training and strength building exercises to get my energy levels up, ready to tackle the day. When I am in the office, I enjoy the walk from London Bridge to Lavington Street, particularly as Spring is emerging. I will then have my breakfast, which would usually be an almond croissant or Belgian waffle.  

When logging into my computer, the first thing I do, is to say good morning to the team on our shared Project and Partnerships MS Teams Channel, then I check the Teams messages and updates I have missed to make sure I am up to date on my team’s activities. I reply to any messages I am tagged in and add any relevant actions to my To Do List. One thing I love about using Teams is that you can see what other members of the team are working on and share ideas, and feedback to the team. 

As the EDI Projects Administrator, I am currently in charge of dealing with inquiries that come though the Diversity Inbox. We usually get a wide range of different queries including, questions about eligibility and access to training sessions and general EDI consultation. We also get quite a few emails from external organisations hoping to arrange a collaboration with King’s or invite us to EDI events, workshops and talks across the country.  

If I am working from home, I like to spend my lunchbreak going for a quick walk round the block or catch up on some of my favourite Netflix shows (I am currently watching Peaky Blinders for the first time and loving it!). If I am in the office, I love to catch up with the team and then going for a stroll in London looking at the various shops, particularly independent stores. I always bring a packed lunch as I am saving to buy my own place, (so no cheeky Nando’s for me!). 

One of the important parts of my role is to assist in the management of EDI projects within the Social Sciences and Public Policy (SSPP) faculty. Each faculty has an EDI committee responsible for different workstreams, such as bullying and harassment or decolonising the curriculum. I usually assist in tasks such as helping to arrange training sessions for staff and students within the department, assisting with their communications plan and general administrative duties such as taking minutes and setting the agenda for our next committee meeting.  

As part of my day, I also like to work on any projects, or pieces of work I have been allocated. For example, I am currently working on a small communications project for the Employee Assistant Programme (EAP – a free programme that provides staff and their immediate family members with support, counselling and advice). To carry out the project, I have been having regular meetings with the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) to discuss my ideas. This includes a list of potential stakeholders and the next steps. I am enjoying this project as it gets my creative juices flowing, particularly as it is a programme that is very beneficial for all employees. 

My after-work activities differ from day to day. On a Monday, I attend my Wing Chun (martial arts) class for training. On other days, I might catch up with a friend for dinner, watch my favourite tv shows or enjoy a compelling book. I am currently reading “New Daughters of Africa” edited by Margaret Busby (an international anthology of writing pieces by African women). 

You can learn more about Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King’s College London and get in touch with Jessica & the team by visiting our webpages. 

International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) is marked each year on March 31, and the day is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, the courage it takes to live openly and authentically, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. Today, and every day, we support and celebrate our trans and non-binary members of our community. We see you, we support you, and we celebrate with you. We recognise your contributions to our King’s community. 

The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009, and it has increased in visibility each year.  It was founded by Rachel Crandall-Crocker to honour trans people and is in contrast to the Autumn Trans Day of Remembrance which focuses on remembering the lives lost to acts of Transphobic violence/hate crime.  

In an interview, Rachel has said “I was upset that the only day that we had was Transgender Day of Remembrance… I wanted a day when, rather than talking about those who passed away, we could talk about those of us who were alive. And I wanted a day that would bring together trans people from all over the world.” 

For LGBTQ+ History Month, Proudly King’s celebrated a different Trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming person for each day of February. Take a look at the inspirational profiles on Proudly King’s Twitter here. 

Show Your Support 

You can show your support to trans colleagues on Trans Day of Visibility by: 

• explore our LGBTQ+ Allyship tool kit.
• adding your pronouns on your signature and pledge to encourage the sharing of pronouns as part of meeting introductions. 
• using an inclusive pride flag backdrop for your video calls on 31 March 
• sign up for Trans Matter Training by emailing diversity@kcl.ac.uk  

• sign a pledge and show your support in your email signature   
• be familiar with our trans toolkit 
• combine marking Trans Day of Visibility with Service with Rosanna McNamara, by embroidering for Mermaids (Strand sign up and Guy’s sign up) 

This is the first blog in a new ‘day in the life’ series from KCL’s Diversity Digest blog. In this new feature we will go behind the scenes, getting to know our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Team and find out more about their work. 

Our first ‘day in the life’ feature comes from Jennifer Hastings our EDI Projects & Partnerships Manager. 

Jennifer Hastings

My name is Jennifer (pronouns she/her) and I started at King’s in June 2021 as the EDI Projects and Partnerships Manager. The EDI function at King’s consists of two teams; the Consultancy team, managed by the Head of EDI, and the Projects and Partnerships team, who I manage. My team includes five Project Officers and one Project Administrator, who provide EDI support and expertise within seven faculties. I also lead on King’s race equality activity.

The way I start my day varies- thanks to hybrid working I have a choice between pre-work exercise, a lie-in or the commute to Lavington Street. If I am in the office, I always stop off at a coffee shop (hot chocolate, extra hot) on my way in. Tip: Coco di Mama gives you a free chocolate with your hot drink.

Once a week, my morning begins with a Project and Partnerships (P&P) team meeting (we now try to alternate between in-person and online). This is an opportunity to hear what is happening within the faculties, discuss current projects and support each other with any challenges. We also make an effort to provide feedback and praise on a regular basis, which is an easy way to help colleagues feel appreciated.

As the lead on our race equality work, I oversee the implementation of our Race Equality Action Plan (REAP). This formed part of our Race Equality Charter submission, which we received a bronze award for in 2020. Whilst we are proud of this achievement, the REAP reminds us that there’s still so much work to do to become an anti-racist institution. It ensures we continue to evaluate the impact of our interventions and helps us focus on systematic change.  The REAP belongs to everyone at King’s and actions have been allocated to various teams, including the P&P team. I have regular meetings with team members who are leading on a REAP project, such as the development of a race equality allyship tool. The purpose of these meetings is to ensure the project is on the right path and provide support when needed.

In between meetings, I catch up on emails and Teams notifications. Having used Zoom in my previous job, it took some time to adjust to Teams however I am now a convert! I find it makes collaboration and communication a lot easier (although I do miss the ‘touch up my appearance’ option on zoom).

Lunch is an obvious highlight of the day and I am a strong believer in making the most of my lunch break. If I am working from home that either means a walk to a local café, a spot of reading or catching up on Netflix. I’m also partial to some of the opportunities at King’s, such as a recent online Trustee fair that enabled me to chat with some brilliant charities.

In the afternoon, I may have some ‘desk time.’ The nature of EDI work makes my role really varied. I may be writing a committee paper, developing a mechanism for tracking race equality progress, or liaising with colleagues across King’s to see how we can collaborate. King’s is a complex organisation and so, since I joined, I have dedicated quite a bit of time to understanding the context of the REAP and the progress that has already been made.

It’s important for the function to maintain its expertise and keep on top of new EDI developments. One of our Project Officers has developed some microaggression training and so we recently had a ‘train the trainer’ session to enable the rest of the team to support with session delivery. This is one of my favourite parts of the role and I feel lucky to be surrounded by intelligent, passionate colleagues who help me become the best EDI practitioner I can be.

My plans after work vary. On a good day I might meet a friend to see some comedy. On less ambitious days I will catch up on whatever series I’m watching (my most recent obsession was Yellowjackets). EDI has been a passion of mine long before I started working in the area and so it’s not unusual for ‘work’ topics to spill over into other parts of my life, whether that’s my choice of reading material or a debate around the dinner table.