Equality, diversity and inclusion newsletters

• January 2021

  News from the School and the Departments

  Training

  Staff across the School, including the Head of School and Heads of Departments, as well as many other key role holders (such as Directors of Teaching), have completed training on bullying, harassment, and discrimination.  Please feel free to raise issues with any of them, as well as with EDI Officers, members of the EDI Committee (listed on our EDI webpages), or using the new Report and Support tool (see below).  Several staff members completed further Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Training, which was designed to providing specific advice and guidance on managing a variety of situations where inappropriate language or behaviour occur.

  In September, 35 tutors from across the School participated in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion training, which included a presentation from the University’s EDI Office and discussion of scenarios (designed by tutors on the basis of their own experiences) that might arise in teaching.

  In November, Philosophy held a seminar for teaching staff on Disparities in Seminar Participation.  The aim of this seminar was to share information on ways of designing and carrying out seminar and tutorial discussions that enable and encourage all students to participate.  

  In the first semester, PhD students Deryn Thomas (Philosophy) and Anushrut Ramakrishnan Agrwaal (Film Studies) were granted funding by the office of AVP(Diversity) in the University to run workshops on diversifying the curriculum for each of the two disciplines. Deryn and fellow doctoral scholars used the funding to run workshops on helping Philosophy undergraduates engage with alternative philosophy reading lists, as well as alternative methodologies and traditions. Anushrut, along with workshop leaders Dr Shruti Narayanswamy and Dr Philip Mann, offered a series of workshops titled Decolonising Film Studies to trace the connection between Film Studies and colonial histories. Both plan on offering more workshops in the coming Semester. You can write to Deryn (dmt8) or Anushrut (ara5) for more information about them.

  St Andrews Institute for Gender Studies (StAIGS)

  The St Andrews Institute for Gender Studies welcomed its first cohort of Gender Studies MLitt students, and ran a wide range of activities, including online lectures and reading groups.  For more information about StAIGS and upcoming events, visit the website: 

  MAP

  The Minorities and Philosophy group has hosted a wide range of online discussions and activities, including a weekly lunch that will continue into the Spring, and that is open to all, and a mentoring programme for philosophy UG students and conversion diploma students from underrepresented groups.

  For more information about MAP, please visit their website, or email mapuk.sasp@st-andrews.ac.uk with any questions or to be added to the mailing list.  

  Other activities

  • Film Studies has created a Departmental Statement of Values.
  • The Arche Research Centre, in collaboration with StAIGS, has organised a Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory seminar.  The Seminar will resume in April. For more information, please contact Emilia Wilson (ew58).
  • The School EDI Officers and EDI Committee have fed into a wide range of School and University activities, including the formulation of new University policies on disability and on gender-based violence; School efforts to improve accessibility for students and staff with learning differences such as dyslexia; work to make payment for tutors and other hourly-paid staff fairer; improving the application process for trans students; and advertising for new academic staff.

  Aims for the coming semester

  • Diversifying and decolonising our teaching. Over the summer, the EDI Committee circulated advice and reading lists (created with the help of tutors) about diversity in the curriculum. In the coming semester, we will participate in a University-wide audit of diversity in the curriculum, and before the semester begins, we will distribute new guidelines entitled ’Strategies and Interventions in Inclusive Teaching’.
  • Improving how we advertise and promote the School and our disciplines, both when we are recruiting students and when we are hiring new staff.
  • Action Plan. Many of you might be aware that we have an Action Plan, which lists a programme of concrete actions intended to make our School fairer, more diverse, and more inclusive.  The Action Plan is linked to on our EDI webpages, so you can always see what we have done and what we intend to do. The Action Plan was originally developed as a part of our Athena SWAN application; since the Athena SWAN programme focuses on gender, the majority of the Action Plan shared that focus.  But we are working to expand and improve our EDI Action Plan, to introduce further actions related to race, class, disability, and other factors related to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
  • The Centre for Minorities Research has created a new blog entitled 'New Political Thinkers'. Born in collaboration with an all female group of students on the Anthropology of Politics and Governance module, the blog hosts exciting short entries written by students at the University of St Andrews.

  News from the University

  Report and Support

  Report and Support is a new online tool where staff, students and members of the community can report issues of bullying, discrimination, abuse, assault or harassment of any sort anonymously, or by reporting with contact details so an adviser can provide support. The Report and Support website also includes information about sources of support for a range of situations.

  Mediation

  The University has launched a new mediation service. The Mediation Service is available for all staff and students and members of the public who are connected to the University who want to resolve disagreement informally. The service is also available for groups or teams seeking a collaborative, inclusive framework for problem solving issues.  The Mediators are staff members from The University of St Andrews who have undertaken formal mediation training that has been accredited by Scottish Mediation. The Mediators act impartially and separately from University Schools and Services. They are solely interested in helping those engaged in the service reach a mutually acceptable solution.

  Staff networks

  • The Staff BAME Network issued a call for examples of experiences of behaviours based on ethnicity from within St Andrews.
  • There is a new Staff with Disabilities Network.

  Other local news

  ‘Pink Saltire’ is a new service (not affiliated with the University, but available to anyone in Fife) that aims to make one-to-one mental health support and counselling available to LGBTQI+ Fifers at zero cost. Information sessions can last between 30-40 minutes, and attendees could attend more than one session.

• May 2020

  Welcome to the School’s first EDI Newsletter. This newsletter is intended to share information about how we are working together toward a fairer and more inclusive School.  Some of our planned activities have had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 situation, but we still have important news to share – led by good news about our Athena SWAN Bronze Award application.

  In the future, this newsletter will be produced at least once per semester, and will be distributed to all students and staff.  Do you have an item to include? Please email the EDI Officer, Derek Ball, at db71@st-andrews.ac.uk. 

  Athena SWAN Bronze Award Success!

  Most of you will be aware of our application for an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, and many of you have contributed to that application – by taking the survey, contributing to focus groups, providing feedback on the draft, or as a member of the SAT.

  We’re very pleased to be able to announce that our application was successful!

  The Bronze Award recognises that as a School, we are working to promote gender equality and to identify and address challenges.  It is an important achievement, but it is only a first step: now we need to continue this work.  We will post a redacted version of the Athena SWAN Bronze Award application on the School’s website in coming weeks; in the meantime, our Action Plan, which describes actions we intend to take to make the School fairer and more inclusive, is already available on the EDI website.

  Revamped EDI Website

  We have recently launched a new EDI website for the School, which includes information on the EDI Committee, bullying and harassment, Athena SWAN, and links to relevant University policies, including policies on adoption, parental, and family leave, sexual misconduct, flexible working, menopause, and bullying and harassment. This content, along with Department-specific information, is included on EDI websites for each Department: Social Anthropology EDI, Film Studies EDI, and the new Philosophy website that will debut this week.

  The website will be updated regularly, and we hope to expand the website to include information about academic promotions, accessibility within School buildings, and much else.  We would welcome suggestions for information to include. Please send suggestions to Derek Ball (db71@st-andrews.ac.uk).

  Bullying and Harassment

  The elimination of bullying and harassment within the School is an extremely high priority for the EDI Committee, and for the Head of School and Heads of Departments.  Members of staff will have received an email from the Head of School, which read in part:

  “our goal is to create a working environment that has no bullying and harassment. And to move towards a School that is genuinely respectful, kind and embraces difference.

  The starting point is understanding what is bullying and harassment. […] Bullying is in the eye of perceiver; harassment relates to protected characteristics. The person whose actions are perceived as bullying may not be aware he or she is doing it. But if someone feels bullied then the bully’s behaviour has to change; and that person will be politely asked to consider the impact of their actions and asked to act differently.”

  The Head of School’s message included posters with further information, which are also attached to this message.  More detailed information is available on the EDI website.  Several members of staff have received training in how to handle bullying and harassment; their contact information (as well as other contacts outside the School) is available on the website.  In coming weeks, all key role holders (including Head of School, Heads of Departments, Directors of Teaching, and Directors of Postgraduate Study) will receive further training.  If you are concerned about anything related to bullying and harassment, please get in touch!

  Inclusive Teaching Group

  The EDI Committee has formed a group to consider ways of making teaching more inclusive.  If you are interested in joining, please contact Stavroula Pipyrou (sp78@st-andrews.ac.uk).

  Incoming EDI Officer

  Next year, we will welcome Melissa Demian as co-EDI Officer. Melissa will share the role with the current EDI Officer. Welcome to Melissa!

  EDI During Lockdown

  The ongoing pandemic, and the prospects of “dual delivery” teaching, have raised challenges for many of us, and have created stresses that may impact significantly on our health.  If you have concerns about these issues, one avenue for raising them is the University EDI Committee, which is active in various discussions on Teams; the School’s EDI Officer is a member of the committee and is happy to pass things on (or to discuss issues within the School): db71@st-andrews.ac.uk.

  Student Hardship Fund

  Students, including postgraduates, who are experiencing financial hardship during the pandemic may be able to access special funding from the University.  Contact moneyadvice@st-andrews.ac.uk for information.

  Reminder of online training

  The University offers online training on diversity and unconscious bias for staff and students. It’s especially important for staff to do this training, and it only takes a few minutes.

  The University is also a member of Advance HE, which is offering a number of webinars free to staff of member institutions (You need to register with Advance HE, but this is free to do.). Here are two particularly relevant ones:

  •  “Moving Assessment On-Line: Key Principles for Inclusion, Pedagogy and Practice”. Dr Patrick Baughan gathered together with other experts to talk about the challenges and opportunities of moving online at the moment. We ran two repeat sessions – the first is available as a recording (with transcripts and slides).
  • "Designing an inclusive curriculum: global perspectives on embracing diversity". We host some examples of approaching inclusive curricula and learning and teaching (particularly in relation to ‘race’, ethnicity and nationality) with speakers from the University of Cape Town, Deakin University and UCL.

  Global Accessibility Awareness Day, 21 May

  Thursday, 21 May 2020, marks the ninth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities.  The University will be hosting online events for GAAD.