Diversity Digest

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at King's College London

Tag: EDI in HE (Page 1 of 5)

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Pride 2023 Reflections

July 19, 2023 /

It’s been a pretty fabulous summer here at King’s, with members of our university community celebrating all things LGBTQ+ for Pride Month throughout June & July. Jake Orros an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Project Officer here at King’s shares some of the highlights of one very busy pride month for King’s.

In a snapshot Proudly King’s once again marched in the Pride in London parade and joined fellow London universities at the London Trans+ Pride march. Our faculties got involved with the celebrations, with the Faculty of Natural Mathematical & Engineering Sciences hosting an ‘LGBTQ+ in STEM’ event and Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Science staff and students came together for a pride inspired picnic. Members of the EDI team volunteered behind the scenes at Pride in London, brushing shoulders with LGBTQ+ icons. And together with colleagues in student services and corporate communications, the EDI team brought you a ‘what pride means to me’ blog series.

Volunteering at Pride in London

Pride events across the world including London’s are only possible because of the amazing people who give up their time and volunteer to help run these events. Over 1000 volunteers supported Pride in London this year, including our very own Lorraine Kelly, Director of Organizational Development & Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, and myself.  This year’s Pride in London theme was ‘Never March Alone: Championing Trans Allyship’.

Lorraine Kelly (right) with Trafalgar Square volunteers

Lorraine was part of the brilliant stages team, working behind the scenes to pull off a brilliant show on the Trafalgar Square stage. Lorraine brushed shoulders with stars including Beverly Knight, Adam Lambert, Rita Ora who all preformed on what is affectionately known behind the scenes as T Square.

In Lorraine’s own words – “I had the great pleasure of volunteering at pride at Trafalgar Square it was an amazing experience, the vibe was positive and inclusive – if you haven’t done it before I would def recommend that you get involved”.

Lorraine (second from right) volunteering at the Trafalgar Square stage before opening to the public.

I was also there volunteering on the day, I had the brilliant job of being an Event Manager and being part of the core team planning and delivering the Pride Family & Youth Area at St Giles-in-the-Fields Church. We delivered the space in partnership with Lego and The Scouts who ran pride themed activities for young people and their families. We had our biggest attendance to the space ever with approximately 7,000 visitors throughout the day which was phenomenal and it was brilliant to see members of the King’s community drop in with their families too! I am so proud of what we achieved on the day, the 6 months of planning paid off and was so worth it – I loved seeing the beaming smiles of the young people and their families as they enjoyed the LGBTQ+ inspired activities from The Scouts & Lego and performances from LGBTQ+ artists on our stage.

Jake in a purple pride manager tshirt stood back to back with another pride volunteer

Jake (right) volunteering in the Pride Family & Youth Area

I couldn’t agree with Lorraine more, volunteering at pride was a brilliant experience and it is such a great way to meet new people, to feel a part of something special and to have a real positive impact. So why not join the team and volunteer at a pride event next year!

What Pride Means to Me? Blog Series

Throughout pride month we shared what pride means to members of our King’s Community. Emily Coutts interviewed 5 brilliant staff and students from across King’s about why pride month is important to them. Emily spoke to: Taj – a Global Health & Social Medicine student, Jo – who Head of Mental Health & Counselling Outreach & Training, Rosanna – a Student Content Manager and James & Andrew – both Faculty Wellbeing Advisors.

We asked Emily to sum up her experience of working on this inspiring pride month project – “It was a pleasure to interview these fantastic people about what Pride means to them. Although their experiences and identities vary hugely, I was struck that they’re all motivated by a desire to make life better for other LGBTQ+ people, and to support those experiencing oppression. It’s great to know that I’m surrounded by such thoughtful and passionate colleagues at King’s.”

You can find the blogs on our Diversity Digest site here.

Proudly King’s

Kirsty McLaren, Communications & Community Co-Chair of Proudly King’s reflects on how our LGBTQ+ staff network marked pride month…

This year marked a transformative moment for Pride at King’s College London.

Amidst the standard festivities associated with Pride in London, King’s took steps to address some pressing challenges faced by queer students in higher education. For the first time ever, Proudly King’s marched shoulder to shoulder with Pride Power, a group of students on our flagship widening participation programme, K+.

Without support, reaching university is a challenge for anyone from a widening participation background. Thriving while you’re there is even harder. Some students face further barriers because of immutable parts of their identity. LGBTQ+ students experience more bullying, poorer mental health, and higher rates of estrangement. They are less likely to feel they belong at university. This leads to many LGBTQ+ students dropping out of university and those who stick it out until graduation often leave with a lower degree classification.  The Widening Participation team created Pride Power to address these issues.

A group from Pride Power holding placards at Pride in London march

Pride Power at Pride in London

What makes Pride Power stand out is its tangible efforts in fostering an environment where these students find belonging. Its essence lies in its relentless efforts to create an environment of acceptance and love. Many of its members, for instance, haven’t come out at home. Yet, with Pride Power by their side, they confidently joined us at Pride in London. Thanks to generous donations from our Departments and Faculties, they had group T-Shirts and could express themselves with their own banners. Making the banners was a beautiful way for them to increase their bond, sharing their experiences of being queer in school and at home. One student described it as “the best experience of [their] entire life.”

As for Proudly King’s, we kicked off the Pride season with a pre-pride party hosted on campus. It was an authentic expression of our community, with speeches and craft tables to write messages of hope for the future generations. These were sent to the Pride Power students ahead of their march. The event marked our return to Pride in London in the spirit of pride as a protest: less about grand gestures and more about genuine connection, setting the stage for the subsequent march.

Collage of images at Proudly's pre pride party,

Proudly Pre-Pride Party

Our Pride Planning Committee’s relentless efforts and the generous donations culminated in a remarkable parade float on the morning of Pride in London. Both Proudly King’s and Pride Power’s branding was on full display, with a DJ truck that played Cher’s hits repeatedly, much to the crowd’s delight. Our Senior Sponsor the Rev’d Dr Ellen Clark-King showcased her unwavering allyship by joining us on the truck right after surgery. Also, among us was the KCLSU LGBTQ+ Network President, Taj Donville-Outerbridge, a double recipient at the 2023 Queer Student Awards.

“Joining [the march] and hearing from [the committee] and feeling like the weight of the world was taken off my shoulders – well that was SOMETHING” – Suz from the School of Politics and Economics on her first ever Pride parade.

King's staff wearing navy blue Proudly King's branded tshirts posing for a group photo

Proudly at the Pride in London Parade

7 days later, Proudly King’s marched once again in London Trans+ Pride, an event that is a response to the injustices that trans, intersex, gender nonconforming, and non-binary people face daily, all over the world. Though June is long-gone, our Pride season at King’s will stretch all the way through to September when we’ll be attending London Bi+ Pride. And in August we’ll be teaming up with the KCL Race Equality Network to attend UK Black Pride, the world’s largest celebration for African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean-heritage LGBTQ+ people.

We’re looking forward to the next academic year when we can expand efforts to make King’s a better place for LGBTQ+ people. Our Proudly King’s committee is expanding, and our Pride Power group will grow even more. To see more pictures from Pride in London and Trans Pride, sign up to our mailing list, or even apply to become a committee member just visit www.proudlykings.com

Love, Always.

Kirsty on behalf of Proudly King

Join the Proudly King's Committee Poster featuring a montage of photos

Join the Proudly King’s Committee

Pride Picnic

Our colleagues in the dentistry faculty hosted a pride picnic with over 50 staff and students attending. There were some incredibly tasty pride themed cakes, including a huge rainbow inspired sponge cake created by a talented member of FoDOCS staff.

A large wedge of pride themes layer cake held up against a window with views of South London in the background.

Pride themed layer cake

The decorate your own gingerbread person activity base was buzzing with activity, with people queuing to decorate their own edible LGBTQ+ gingerbread icons. The event served as an important opportunity to further develop a sense of meaningful community within the faculty and enabled all those present to take time out from busy work and study schedules to learn more about LGBTQ+ inclusion and meet other members of the community & allies.

Gingerbread people people decorated with icing and little sugar coated stars.

Gingerbread Icons

King’s Libraries – Must Watch List

Throughout the month staff from across King’s Libraries & Collections team shared their suggestions of must watch LGBTQ+ inspired content.

You can explore all of their suggestions on the King’s Libraries Twitter & Instagram pages, where you will find an eclectic mix of documentaries, short films and thought provoking features, all curated to expand your knowledge of queer history and theory.

All the suggested content is available to watch for staff and students via the Library’s Kanopy subscription here.

My experience at London Trans Pride

Alex an undergraduate Management and Modern Languages student and a summer intern with the Student Content Management team attended London Trans Pride.

You can read all about Alex’s experience of attending the event here.

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

Ten things you can do to ensure your workshops are inclusive

July 10, 2023 /

If you are organising a workshop at King’s, on campus or elsewhere, take note of these ten tips to ensure your diverse audience can participate fully. While inviting participants to request adjustments is welcoming, not everyone feels confident or comfortable to do so. So, here’s some tips, co-created by members of the Access King’s network, to help you create an event that’s welcoming for all. 

  1. Share information in advance, including details of the venue, contact information, and any access features (e.g. step-free access, hearing loop available etc). You could also signpost to more information such as an AccessAble guide, if there is one. 
  2. Share contact information for questions, adjustments, and companion tickets (if available).  
  3. Be explicit that attendees (neurodivergent folk especially) are welcome to make themselves comfortable, move around, fidget, stim etc.  
  4. Provide an overview of the session and an agenda in advance, with any preparatory work required of attendees clearly indicated, and indicative timings. Clearly state the expectations of attendees, as well as any rules of engagement. This is particularly helpful if it clarifies unstructured or social expectations (“15 minutes’ informal mingling to start”, “finish time is 4pm but conversations may continue after this point”, “we may continue the breakout room discussions if these are fruitful”, “People are welcome to come and go” or, “People are expected to stay for the duration of the session.” etc.). 
  5. Schedule sufficient breaks and let attendees know when they will be. 
  6. At the start of the event, check the lighting in the room e.g. are fluorescent lights needed, is daylight adequate? 
  7. Incorporate multisensory learning. Engage participants through diverse sensory experiences by using visuals, interactive activities, demonstrations, sensory-friendly spaces/activities in the workshop and group discussions to cater to different learning styles. 
  8. Use clear and concise language. Ensure that the language used during the workshop is clear, concise, and free from unnecessary jargon or complex terminology, making it accessible and understandable to all participants. 
  9. Allow time for participants to engage, respond to questions, or write answers or contributions. 
  10. Feedback questions to include targeted questions, for example: 

10.a. Did you feel that the workshop materials and activities were accessible and accommodating to individuals with diverse abilities and disabilities? Please provide specific examples or suggestions for improvement. 

10.b. How well did the workshop incorporate the principles of universal design and accessibility? Were there any missed opportunities or areas where improvements could be made in terms of disability inclusion? 

10.c. Were the communication channels and formats provided during the workshop helpful in facilitating your understanding and engagement? If not, what alternative methods would you suggest to improve accessibility for neuro-diverse participants? etc. 

For more information about disability and neurodiversity inclusion, visit the Disability Inclusion Hub and the Neurodiversity Toolkit. 

There is also some guidance available on the Content Editors Hub for delivering accessible face-to-face sessions. 

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

Race Equality Wrap-Up – Term 2, 2022/23

June 12, 2023 /

Welcome to our second termly update on King’s race equality activity. Below you will find a snapshot of what is happening across King’s- please do reach out (by emailing diversity@kcl.ac.uk) if you have any questions or would like to get involved. We would also love to hear what you are doing in your area to tackle racism, as learning from each other and sharing best practice is key to becoming an anti-racist institution. 

You can read our wrap-up from term 1 here. 

B-MEntor 

King’s is part of the B-MEntor scheme, which is a cross-institutional mentoring programme for academic, research and professional services staff from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. This year King’s had 36 participants. 

Terminology 

Following on from the creation of a race equality allyship toolkit, we are currently developing guidance for race and ethnicity terminology. As well as being a response to demand, we also hope this will help people have sensitive conversations about race and racism.  

Success for Black Engineers 

King’s successfully applied for funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering for a cross-faculty programme called Success for Black Engineers. This programme comprises of outreach, mentoring, and other activities to increase the proportion of Black engineering students and to support Black students to achieve first class degrees. This project started in May 2022 led by Professor Kawal Rhode and the project team. Sophie Rust joined as the project’s Coordinator in February 2023, based in the EDI team but working closely with the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences (FoLSM) and the Department of Engineering (NMES). Students on the programme will be visiting Siemens Magnet Technology in April to get exposure to engineering in industry, as well as taking part in funded summer research placements at King’s. 

The Racial Code- Tales of Resistance and Survival 

King’s recently hosted a launch event for Professor Nicola Rollock’s latest book. Chaired by Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, a panel of staff and students discussed what the book meant to them and shared their own experiences of racism. 

Diversifying the academic pipeline 

The proportion of academics from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, particularly those who are Black, decreases with seniority, however we know there is work to do at every stage of the pipeline. In order to encourage more Black students to enter academia, we are developing an academic mentoring scheme. We are very early in the planning process, however welcome expressions of interest from academics who would be interested in mentoring a student who is considering a career in academia, explore more here. 

Recruitment 

We were pleased to support the Entrepreneurship Institute (EI) to pilot an initiative to diversify their interview panel. The EI did a call out for volunteers from minoritised ethnic backgrounds to sit on a panel and support with shortlisting. We are now reviewing this approach and looking at how we can implement it in other areas across King’s.  

Microaggression Training 

The EDI team deliver microaggressions training, which is open to all staff at King’s. This training will support you: 

  • To be able to define bias and microaggressions. 
  • To give examples of bias and microaggressions in action. 
  • To be able to describe how biases are formed and the ways in which they manifest and impact people within the workplace and classroom. 
  • To examine your own biases and to consider strategies to respond to microaggressions. 

You can book onto a session via our Skills Forge page. So far we have had 156 signups out of a total of 200 spaces so be quick!  

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

StellarHE Leadership Programme 2023 – Recruiting Now!

December 9, 2022 /

StellarHE is a targeted leadership development programme to support Black and Minority Ethnic academics, researchers and Professional Services staff. The programme has been designed specifically to develop and implement leadership strategies that reflect the unique challenges and experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic academic and professional staff across Higher Education.

King’s is dedicated to developing and supporting diverse talent and inclusive leadership and the university is committed to supporting members of the King’s community to take part in the StellarHE programme. The programme is for staff who aspire to operate at a senior, strategic level here at King’s and contribute to our institutional commitment to advance race equality.

The application process for the 2023 is now open!

Updated Deadline: 17:00 on Wednesday 18th January 2023

What is included? 

The scheme includes:

  • Ten one-day virtual workshops
  • Leadership diagnostics
  • Two individual Borderless Coaching sessions
  • One virtual Action Learning Set
  • Completion of a Leadership Challenge project
  • The programme also includes the opportunity to join the Beyond StellarHE Alumni network.

Key Programme Dates

  • 6 March 2023 Readiness Session
  • 17 March 2023 Managers Race to Action Session
  • 20 March 2023 M1 – Orientation & My Leadership Journey
  • 3 April 2023 M2 – Race Strategic Context in HE
  • 18 April 2023 M3 – Authentic Leadership, Identity and Race
  • 4 May 2023 M4 – Leadership Purpose & Vision
  • 24 May 2023                   M5 – Status Now – Leadership MoT
  • April/May 2023 Action Learning and Assessments – Factor8 & Borderless Coaching
  • 8 June 2023 M6 – iLead 360 – Cracking the corporate Code
  • Jun/Jul 2023 Action Learning
  • 12 July 2023 M7– Presence – iBrand & Communicating with Impact*
  • 13 July 2023 M8 – Career Strategy and Leaderships Signature*
  • September 2023 Coaching

*All the workshops are virtual apart from those annotated. Find out more on the StellarHE website.

Participants would be expected to participate in all of the sessions. 

Programme cost

The Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team intend to fully fund up to 1 place open to staff from across the university and part-fund 2 places on the scheme in collaboration with faculties & directorates. In addition, many faculties & directorates from across KCL have also committed to funding additional places should their staff be successfully selected. A list of faculties & directorates who have agreed to fund places will be added to this page in due course.

  • The programme fee is £4,495 + VAT per participant.
  • Successful applicants who are parents and carers are eligible for further financial support to enable them to participate from the Carers’ Career Development Fund.

Eligibility criteria

  • StellarHE is targeted at Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) individuals who aspire to senior leadership positions in Higher Education.
  • StellarHE is targeted at middle and senior managers – we advise that applicants are currently in roles grade 6 and above (see FAQs below).
  • Professional services, research and academic staff are all eligible to apply.
  • Staff members on fixed term contracts can apply for StellarHE as long as their contract continues at least 6 months after the programme has finished or you can provide evidence it will be extended.
  • You must be available for all the programme dates (see above)

How to apply

  1. Speak to your manager about StellarHE and confirm they are happy to support your application. If you apply the EDI team will contact them to ask for a supporting statement.

 

  1. Check that you are available for all the dates listed above and meet the eligibility criteria.

 

  1. Complete the expression of interest form by Midday Monday 16th January 2023.
You can apply for a place here.

How will my application be selected & assessed?

The answers in your application form, the personal statement and your manager’s statement will all be used to assess your suitability for the programme.

The application questions in the form will each be scored from 1 (does not meet the criteria) to 5 (significantly exceeds the criteria).

Your application will also then be scored against the King’s criteria.

The King’s criteria asses the strength of the application with regards to how the applicant demonstrates the positive impacts the programme could have on their career, their team and on race equality at King’s.

  • The impact of the programme on the individual and their career, i.e.:
    • Show they have proactively thought about career progression/development and how StellarHE will feed into this.
    • Demonstrate their capability and potential as a manager/leader.
  • The impact of the programme on the applicant’s team, department and King’s more widely, i.e.:
    • Show how they will apply learning to others, both locally and more widely.
    • What benefit this will have.
  • The impact of the programme on race equality at King’s, i.e.:
    • Demonstrate a commitment to Race Equality at King’s or externally (e.g., active membership of the Race Equality Staff network, personal activism in team/dept etc).

As you write your application you should think about how you are demonstrating these King’s criteria.

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?

Celebrating Gold

April 28, 2022 /

King’s College London’s continued commitment to shaping an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ people at work was  recently recognised  with a Stonewall Workplace Equality Index Gold Award. King’s achieved 14th place in the Stonewall Top 100 Employer list which is compiled from the Workplace Equality Index, a benchmarking tool for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace. KCL ranked 2nd overall in the higher education sector. You can read the full story here.

To make this momentous occasion King’s College London’s LGBTQ+ staff network’ Proudly King’s & the university’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team held a celebration event to recognise & thank all those who contributed to our Workplace Equality Index submission. 

In This blog we will be sharing some of the speeches and pictures from the evening, including reflections from Sarah Guerra & Kirsty McLaren.

 

Content warning: transphobia, queer phobia, racism, sexism, assault, sexual assault and suicide. 

 

Stonewall gold celebration

Kirsty McLaren, Sarah Guerra & Paul Webb.

Welcoming thoughts – Kirsty McLaren – on behalf of Proudly King’s

Kirsty McLaren.

Words drawn from Kirsty’s welcoming speech delivered at the celebration event. 

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us to celebrate the Stonewall Gold Award. The last time we handed in our Workplace Equality Index submission, we were handed back a position of 250-something out of 400 employers. There wasn’t any disappointment or pushback, just a real sense of opportunity, because King’s is full of changemakers.

They’re our student-facing staff who work to allow students to have their identities recognised on our systems and the IT staff who implement it. They’re our procurement team who scrutinise the LGBT inclusion of countries and companies in their tender process. They’re our HR staff who make recruitment and onboarding processes inclusive. They are the 500 staff members who’ve worn a rainbow lanyard and pledged their allyship to Proudly King’s. They are every member of staff who’s attended diversity training. They are the EDI officers who led on the Stonewall submission. They are us – Proudly King’s – who welcome everyone bring people together and campaign for change. And every member of King’s who’s made these walls a safe space for people when there wasn’t one at home.

The important thing about us is that we are relentless, and we are never complacent. Even if we hit top marks on every charter mark or index out there, all of us will still be working to make this place even better, and even safer. While this is a celebration of everything we’ve achieved together it should also be a frank reality check for what people are still experiencing. Trans people at King’s and across the world have been cast as the subject of debates without invitation

I remember coming back from a trip in Cornwall and stopping in a service station. On the back of the toilet stall I saw a poster in the back of the toilet saying, “men can dress up as women to assault you, is that what you want?” It was a protesting the gender recognition act. It didn’t make me angry at the people who put it there, just sorry for them and the system we live in that keeps people in boxes and thrives off the vulnerable members of society hating each other. Within King’s, other universities and everywhere imaginable, people have debated trans issues. Universities have pulled out of Stonewall over the debate. Britain’s human rights watchdog has pulled out of Stonewall over the debate. This is debate over where trans people should and should not have space.

But the debate isn’t about space, is it?

It’s about women feeling so afraid to be anywhere in public without sharing their location with loved ones or sending them a quick “I’m home!” message. It’s about being told when you’re little that you can always trust a police officer, and respect what they ask of you, only to find out he’s used his position to harm you. It’s about the 1 in 5 women, the 1 in 6 children, the 1 in 20 men and the 1 in 2 trans people who are sexually assaulted. You don’t have an issue with trans people. You have an issue with the perpetrators. If you haven’t guessed by the statistics, are not trans people. A cisgender man who pretends to be a woman to attack people is not a trans person. Trans people have become the scapegoat for an issue that nobody in power is willing to address. Just this month we saw 80 charities and organisations boycott the UK Government’s first LGBT conference after it changed its mind on banning conversion therapy meaning that trans conversion therapy will not be outlawed. We can’t accept that lesbian, bi and gay folks are more deserving to be safeguarded from self-hate and suicide but trans people are not.

Ever since the start of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, we’ve had conflict within ourselves which only benefits those who have more privilege. The Stonewall Riots which launched the modern movement were started by black trans women who were sick and tired of police brutality. A few years later, they stood on stage at the pride parade to be booed off stage by white, gay, cisgender men and women who ousted them from the very revolution that they had started.

Fast forward four decades to our second ever Pride Parade with Proudly King’s and we are stopped in the blistering sun for two hours because white lesbian groups protested against trans people being included within the LGBT movement. Meanwhile, those who started the movement, black trans women, today have a life expectancy of 35 and it is simply not good enough. We no longer march in Pride in London because they do not protect or empower the most vulnerable members of our community.

Two weeks ago, my fiancé and I went on an impromptu pub crawl around our area. While we were there, we met Luke who is a trans man. Luke was organising a meet-up for a new LGBTQ+ association in our local area. He was sitting on a table by the bar scrawling notes about how to get the word out to people without publicising the date or time. I asked him why he wouldn’t just put up the signs because surely the queers would flock. He told me that this the pub was the only place he had ever managed to get a job, because everywhere else in the area rejected him when they learned he was trans. He said that the last time he had advertised something publicly, the pub was attacked, and he was abused. But he also said that he was questioned about what was in his pants by another member of the LGBTQ+ community at the previous meetup. The pub was the only place he could be safe because he wasn’t safe at home. And even in his safe space, he was targeted as a trans man by the general public and by his own community.

The ultimate goal of those in power in the world is to pull us apart. We are fed ideas by media, politicians and those who profit from keeping us separate and in conflict with one another. Because while we’re doing that, they can continue to thrive in a world that favours cisgendered people, that favours men, that favours able-bodied people and that favours white people. Working intersectionally and empowering every part of a person’s identity is the only way we move forward. Because those in power are terrified of what that would do to the status quo.

We can all do better by Luke regardless of how golden our awards are. This evening I invite you all to celebrate all our achievements and to continue being changemakers.

In this room we have Josh Pullen, who campaigned against the Honorary Degree of the Sultan of Brunei when the death penalty was re-introduced for gay people. Proudly King’s won that battle because he amplified the voices of queer people in King’s and beyond, and – importantly – the university listened.

We also have Professor Evelyn Welch and Sarah Guerra. I’m not sure whether the UK manufactures the size of boot that these women have left for someone to fill. Evelyn has worked at the most senior level to develop a focus on culture, inclusion and diversity among her many other roles. But she has somehow made time to be the Senior Sponsor for:

  • Elevate – our gender equality network
  • NEST – our parents & carers network
  • And our Race Equality network

As well as volunteering and championing our work in Proudly King’s.

Sarah Guerra has spent the last 5 years at King’s leading a team who’ve decreased the gender pay gap, increased the number of female staff at senior level, gained an Athena Swan silver award, a Race Equality Charter Bronze award and a small thing called the Stonewall Gold Award where we ranked 14th in the UK and 2nd among universities.

I want to thank everyone in this room for being here and being a part of making King’s a better place. You’re the reason I’ve never been afraid to bring my whole self to work.

 

Reflections from Sarah Guerra, Director of Equality Diversity & Inclusion 

Sarah Guerra celebrated with pride and trans inclusive nails.

Words drawn from Sarah’s speech delivered at the celebration event. 

It is such an enormous pleasure and privilege to be asked to speak here tonight. I am, as we all know, nearing the end of my time at King’s. I can say these 5 years have genuinely been some of the best working and life experiences I’ve had.

This Stonewall success has meant so much to me. It is the result of strong partnerships and collaboration as well as determination and commitment by so many. Kirsty outlined many of the ways we have worked together collectively to achieve this success. Many across the King’s community have contributed to this success and importantly to the safety and inclusion of our LGBTQ+ colleagues. Everyone here should feel their chests puff with pride.

I want to particularly thank Nicole Robinson, Tyler John, Jordan, Alex Prestage, Evelyn Welch, Paul Webb, Ryan Benjamin, Kirsty McLaren, Chenee Psaros, Josh Pullen, Vanessa Farrier who all have played a role in really driving King’s LGBTQ+ inclusion journey – not forgetting the IOPPN leadership who started King’s relationship with Stonewall before I arrived. They all need special mention for the roles they have played in leading King’s to this success.

While celebrating we must remind ourselves why it is important that we ensure a focus on LGBTQ+ equality. March 31 was #TransDayOfVisibility, and that gives us an opportunity to celebrate trans and non-binary people, and to raise awareness of the discrimination faced by the community worldwide. It also provides an opportunity for trans and non-binary people to feel seen through positive and realistic representation – and for allies to learn more about how they can stand in solidarity.

As I reflected on what to say today, I felt I couldn’t say it better than Lady Phyll that is Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah. Someone I’ve had the privilege to know for maybe 20 years. She is a LinkedIn ChangeMaker, Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Trust, CoFounder of UK Black Pride, A Human Rights Activist, a Community Builder and Organiser and an LGBTQ+ icon.

Lady Phyll said;

“We all have a role to play. Along with sharing trans peoples’ stories far and wide, make sure to support campaigns and mutual aid networks, so that in future trans people can be more than simply visible – they can thrive.”

All over the world we are celebrating the beauty and courage of our trans siblings. While today is a day of celebration and revelation, I want to start the day by highlighting the still very real rise in oppression that trans people are facing that seems to run parallel to their visibility.

With more representation than ever before, the general population are able to learn about the nuanced complexities of the queer community from their phones, televisions and newspapers in new and more informed ways. This being said, it has also armed an extremely vocal minority within our society with the necessary tools to identify and target some of the most vulnerable in our community. Anti-trans sentiments and violence continue to rise all over the world, and the recent ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in the United States serves as a reminder that this in turn breeds a redaction of our rights as human beings.

Trans day of visibility is a day of celebration, a day to reach out to and appreciate the trans people in our lives in admiration and respect.

She ends with words that I fully subscribe to –

“I genuinely do believe in the power that positivity and light can have on our community, however I also think that it is vital that the cisgender members of the LGBTQ community take stock of the very real threats that trans people face on a daily basis.”

I wasn’t at the march in London this weekend – but Lady Phyll and all those who came out remind us it is time for our allyship to manifest itself in action.

In looking through another lens as to why LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace is life changing and can be life saving I was fortunate enough that my brother-in-law brought our family a set of books at Christmas. One of these was called A Dutiful Boy – a memoir of secrets, lies and family love. By Mohsin Zaidi. The Guardian, GQ and New Statesman named it best book of the year. Mohsin grew up in a devout Muslim household and was confronted with the biggest decision he would ever make – to live the life that was expected of him or to live his truth?

Let me tell you in his own words…

(Sarah read a passage of book pages 274-276).

And the final lens – my own – those that know me will know I myself have come to know, accept and share my queerness as a bi Cis woman whilst here at King’s. It is still something I feel a bit weird talking about as I have been happily partnered with someone of the opposite sex for a long while now. I found myself often asking am I queer imposter? Particularly when I, say, see the twitter content that questions people who are in ‘straight’ relationships saying they are queer. Am I appropriating space? Am I jumping on a bandwagon?

No! I have learned more about romantic and physical attraction and their relationship to my sexual orientation -I get to decide for me who I am attracted to or why – not societal norms. As I started to share this news about myself I was interested in the range of reactions I got. From my brother-in-law saying ‘congratulations and welcome’ to a previous work colleague – someone who I felt was very open, saying ‘am I reading correctly that you have made some self-discoveries?’ Yes, I’ve realised I’m bi/queer but no real change in the day to day. ‘Hope your discoveries are not making life too complicated’ – to which I answered, ‘Why would they? I’m the same person’.

This is why I am so grateful for the relationships, conversations and support here at King’s underpinned by our Stonewall membership and our brilliant Proudly network that have helped me come to terms with and understand my own confusion and repressed feelings and experiences. Helped me understand who I am and be happy with that.

Tonight, isn’t about me but my experiences are a big part of why Stonewall membership and support is so vital it provides space, advocacy and education to reduce fear and confusion for individuals and to help organisations understand how to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. Getting this Gold award tells us we are on the right track and to repeat Mohsin’s words – ‘I am unwilling to give up on the idea that things can change’..

I so look forward to seeing King’s leading the conversation after my departure.

Thank you.

 

If you would like to watch some amateur footage of the speeches delivered on the night please contact the team via email (diversity@kcl.ac.uk). 

Gaining a Stonewall Workplace Equality Index Gold Award is not a destination. but a small step in our journey to creating a more inclusive world. To get involved with our work and to find out more explore the links below; 

Experiences of racial discrimination on clinical placements: A narrative analysis of medical student perspectives.

March 22, 2022 /

KCL Intercalated Bachelor of Science (iBSC) Primary Care Student Luckshi Jegatheeswaran is currently researching medical student experiences of racial discrimination whilst on clinical placements. Luckshi is inviting KCL medical & intercalating students, between the years 2 – 5 to contribute to the project by sharing their experiences.

Why is this study important?

The purpose of the study is to understand how medical students can experience racial discrimination – whether directed at them, other students, or members of staff and to understand the immediate and lasting emotional impacts of these experiences.

The NHS boasts the UK’s most ethnically diverse public sector workforce. Increasing awareness of the experiences of people of ethnic minorities within the healthcare team (from medical students to senior staff) is crucial. This will facilitate greater understanding of the experiences of these groups. It will also allow the identification of areas where measures that will empower and create safe workspaces can be taken, benefiting the well-being of healthcare professionals from ethnic minorities.

What is the aim of the study?

  • To understand how medical students can experience racial discrimination- whether directed at them, other students, or members of staff.
  • To understand the immediate and lasting emotional impacts of these experiences.

Who can take part in the study?

  • Medical & intercalating students between years two and five.

What is involved?

  • You will complete an anonymous survey. The survey will ask you to state your course and year of study. You will be asked to describe your experiences of racial discrimination on medical placements.

How do I take part?

  1. Read this participant information.
  2. Submit your experiences using this online form

For further information please contact Luckshi via email: luckshi.jegatheeswaran@kcl.ac.uk

 

Embedding wellbeing in uncertain times

February 28, 2022 /

Joy Whyte is Strategic Director, Education & Students, and the professional services lead for student mental health and wellbeing. To coincide with University Mental Health Day (3rd March 2022) Joy explores how we can embed wellbeing in uncertain times.

At the start of this academic year, the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Steering Group met in its newly configured form for the first time. I co-chair this group with Professor Juliet Foster, the academic lead for student mental health and wellbeing, with Wilna Gracias as the remarkably dynamic and knowledgeable Head of Student Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy.  

Joy Whyte leans against a stone rail, set alongside the exterior of a stone building. She is a white woman with auburn hair tied in a low plait and wears a teal top and jacket.

Joy Whyte, Strategic Director, Education & Students.

We started the meeting of the newly constituted group with a round of introductions, asking participants to share a time they were well supported and to describe the impact of that support. Rounds such as this – common in community organising practice, as a means of connecting group members – normally take 10 minutes at most. Ours took 50 minutes. In at an atmosphere of trust and confidence in one another, and a willingness to be collectively and individually vulnerable, we all shared stories of times when we had been challenged, and described the ways in which we had each been supported.  

Except for my own, those experiences are not mine to share, but anyone who has lived through two years of a global pandemic will have plenty of stories of their own: of isolation, of bereavement, of the difficulty of balancing work and family life (writ large as schools closed across the country), of caring responsibilities – both immediately and distantly, of health concerns and illness, of financial worries, instability around housing, difficulty in getting out to buy essentials, to name but a few. And sometimes a great many of these factors, in combination, exhaustingly set within a context of the intense ambient anxiety caused by a global health crisis.  

We also know that these factors have been felt differently – that black people and people of the global majority have been at greater risk from Covid, that women have carried a disproportionate childcare burden (affecting time for research, work, and rest), and that living arrangements have impacted in varyingly problematic ways for those who live alone, in shared accommodation, with a violent partner, or as a single parent.  

“More people have experienced a mental health crisis during the coronavirus pandemic than ever previously recorded”. – Mind, 2020.

The Prime Minister may think that we’re in post-pandemic times. But, even if you think the global health risk has subsided (and I believe only vaccine equity will assure that), the reverberations of living through such destabilising and precarious times seems set to be with us for some time. In November 2020, Mind revealed that “more people have experienced a mental health crisis during the coronavirus pandemic than ever previously recorded”. Mind warned of the risk of a second, mental health pandemic, and called for urgent action to mitigate the impacts of this, including investing in mental health services in the community. 

In February, the Office for National Statistics reported that 16-29 year olds feel significantly more anxious than the general population. 42% reported high levels of anxiety in the first half of February compared with 34% on average. Many King’s staff will be in this age group, and many more are directly supporting students who are experiencing these feelings of anxiety. The Student Minds Planning for a Sustainable Future report observed that “the human relationship between staff and students is still the key factor in the student experience and in supporting student mental health and wellbeing. How staff are supported becomes an important consideration.” 

In the 2018-2020 Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Report and Strategic Plan, we set out a pyramid support model. There are undoubtedly students – and staff – who need support at the uppermost levels (university specialist support services, and external specialist support services). Indeed, Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor UWE and President of Universities UK (UUK) noted in a One King’s leadership session on 24 February that “the increasing demands being made on Mental Health and Wellbeing both within university, NHS and 3rd sector agencies is significant. Universities are being expected to support high risk mental illness as the pressures on the NHS increase. This is being worked on by UUK working across Government Departments to encourage a joined-up solution”.  

Yet the base levels of the pyramid are equally important, and as King’s moves into the next phase of our strategic plan, the steering group’s focus is on illuminating further the Education Strategy’s ambition to “support positive wellbeing as a fundamental ethos of the university” and to “support and enhance the mental and physical wellbeing of students and staff through all aspects of the university experience”.  

Going back to our October meeting, individual stories about challenges sat within the context of the support we had each received – a meeting with a colleague or line manager in which we felt heard; a note left on a desk or in a locker by a co-worker; someone asking ‘how are you?’ months after a difficult event, and meaning it; cups of tea made; diaries cleared for a conversation; understanding and compassion. These were often seemingly small actions – of kindness, concern, and support – and they were profoundly meaningful.  

“Local factors play a significant role in staff wellbeing. Having a supportive team and a good direct line manager has been shown to be important for good wellbeing…” – University Mental Health Charter.

These experiences reflect the findings of Student Minds, whose University Mental Health Charter (which King’s is  working towards) states “Local factors play a significant role in staff wellbeing. Having a supportive team and a good direct line manager has been shown to be important for good wellbeing, in both the literature and feedback from staff participants in the Charter consultation.”  

Importantly, though, Students Minds note: “However, this can be precarious if not supported by the general culture of the university. This suggests a need for a combination of a general healthy culture and specific structures and practice, which ensure managers can and do support good wellbeing within their teams and respond appropriately to staff experiencing poor mental health.” 

For my own part, I think that whilst our individual experiences can catalyse change, by illustrating what support can work well (and conversely where an absence of support has heightened difficulties), the Education Strategy’s ambitions can be genuinely transformative. In the words of the King’s Community Charter we partly demonstrate our collective commitments to making the world a better place by “creating a culture that promotes positive mental health and wellbeing, and supports a proactive and holistic approach, whilst recognising the needs of the individual”. As a steering group, we look forward to sharing with you more details of what this means in practice, as we prepare the King’s application to the University Mental Health Charter.  

For guidance on mental wellbeing, and details of a range of sources of support, including Togetherall, see staff mental wellbeing.  

Organisational Development are currently conducting a review of the support available to staff, with the outcome of the review to be shared in early May. If you’d like to share your views on King’s support for staff wellbeing, Organisational Development invite you to send your thoughts to OD@kcl.ac.uk using the subject line ‘Wellbeing Review’. 

LGBT History Month Reflections from Professor Bronwyn Parry

February 17, 2022 /

Introducing Professor Bronwyn Parry, Vice President and Vice Principal (Service), King’s College London’s new Senior Sponsor for all things LGBTQI+.

Having been at Kings ten years this year (where did the time go!) I am delighted to say that this anniversary will also coincide with my elevation as KCL’s Senior Sponsor for all things LGBTQi+. The past decade has seen some very significant advances in thinking about such matters and there is much to celebrate in this year’s LGBTQi History Month.

Professor Bronwyn Parry

Professor Bronwyn Parry.

One of the most significant of these has been the inclusive ways in which we have worked to support members of the wider King’s community who are trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming. I remember very well how difficult it felt, in years gone by, to secure acceptance from colleagues and the wider community for anything that deviated, even marginally, from what was at the time, a seemingly all consuming hetero-normativity. And yet, here we are, not so many years hence, when I find that I can say that wonderful phrase ‘my wife’ without producing even a marginally raised eyebrow.

All of human life and behaviour undergoes continuous change and evolution. Ideas that some thought were completely unacceptable in the past (opening universities to people who came from working class backgrounds, for example) have now, thankfully, been fully revisited and our conceptions of what is fixed and fluid productively re-worked, as a consequence. By extending allyship to those in the trans community we create a safe space in which we can all reflect on the fluidity of what for many have been seemingly fixed categories. Transitions of all kinds, whether in gender or thought can be personally challenging, but also, consequently, highly generative of new understandings and approaches to matters that we thought, perhaps, long settled.

To help us with these ruminations, Proudly King’s has created a wonderful set of interactive events that that will open many new perspectives for all of us. I hope that everyone will take up opportunities that these afford to create fresh conversations and partnerships across and between our varied, staff, student and professional services communities in ways that help us improve understanding and knowledge of the experiences of all those whose lives do not directly mirror our own. This is, in essence, the promise of inclusivity that lies at the heart of all our EDI ambitions, one that I have, and will, work to deliver in my new role.

I wish everyone a very happy and productive LGBTQI History Month, one in which we come together to celebrate the strengths that diversity, in all its colours, can bring to the enhancement of life!

LGBTQ+ History Month Reflections from Professor Evelyn Welch

February 8, 2022 /

In celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, Professor Evelyn Welch, Senior Vice President (Service, People & Planning) reflects on King’s College London’s commitments to our staff & students.


At King’s College London, we are committed to ensure that all members who identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella feel safe and welcome. We promote respecting equality, diversity and inclusion within and beyond our community.

Proudly King’s is our network for LGBTQ+ staff members and allies and has worked hard over the past 18 months to amplify the voices of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people and campaign for their rights.

Last year, Proudly King’s created and distributed new progress flag lanyards for staff and students which include the colours of the trans flag, as well as black and brown.

In June 2021, Proudly King’s launched their Allyship Campaign, encouraging colleagues to make a pledge to the LGBTQ+ community. 333 people have pledged so far, and over half of you specifically mention support for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people working and studying in our community.

Proudly King’s has organised an LGBTQ+ History Month which focuses on trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming experiences. On Twitter, they will celebrate a trans trailblazer every day in February. Please sign up to their exciting events.

Both the Equality Act 2010 and our internal Dignity at King’s – Bullying and Harassment Policy protect individuals from being harassed or victimised because of sex, gender reassignment (without need for medical intervention) and sexual orientation.

At King’s, we are proud of our commitments to LGBTQ+ staff and students. We promise to empower:

  • all colleagues who identify as trans, non-binary, gender fluid and intersex
  • all students who identify as trans, non-binary, gender fluid and intersex
  • those who promote and protect trans, non-binary, gender fluid and intersex rights

We will support anyone who experiences discrimination, bullying, harassment or victimisation because of their trans, non-binary, gender fluid and/or intersex identity. We will address issues promptly and treat everyone with dignity and respect.

I invite colleagues and students to promote this ethos within our community and beyond.

Finally, our central Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team has created an LGBTQ+ Allyship toolkit on SharePoint which includes resources and advice on how to be a better ally to trans and non-binary people. Allyship is an active process and we must always strive to do more.

Professor Evelyn Welch

Senior Vice President (Service, People & Planning)

For more information you can visit our equality, diversity & inclusion webpages here.

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