Category: Equality and diversity

Gender Equality in Research – Learning from Portugal

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Together with European project MINDtheGEPs and a distinguished panel from Portugal, the EU institutions and the research community, we will deep dive into Portugal’s performance on equality, discuss what more the EU could do to deliver a gender balanced research system and consider how the gender equality implementation plans will be rolled out in Europe’s research and innovation framework.

The discussion on Wednesday 16th June will be divided in two sessions; the first, starting at 10:00 CEST, will examine the reasons behind Portugal’s success and how it could be replicated across Europe, with questions to representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Portuguese Government and the research community. The second session, starting at 11:35 CEST, will bring together established members of the research community to discuss how gender equality can be realised in practice through strategic interventions and implementation of gender equality plans. The event brings together the following speakers:

Session 1 on policy, moderated by Elizabeth Crossick, Head of EU Government Relations, RELX:
– Rosa Monteiro, Secretary of State for Citizenship & Equality, Portugal
– Ramona Strugariu, Member of European Parliament, Renew Europe
– Lesia Radelicki, Member of Cabinet of the Equality Commissioner, Helena Dalli
– Prof Analia Torres, Director CIEG, Centre of Gender Studies, Lisbon University
– Federica Rosetta, Vice President Academic & Research Relations EU, Elsevier

Session 2 on policy in practice, moderated by Claudio Colaiacomo, Vice President Academic Relations, Elsevier:
– Mina Stareva, Head of Sector Gender, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission
– Prof Maria Chiara Carrozza, President CNR (National Research Council, Italy)
– Prof Stefano Geuna, Rector Magnificus, Torino University, Italy
– Anna Wahl, Vice President Gender Equality & Values, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology)Time

Women & the Climate Crisis Symposium

Call for proposals

The Birkbeck Students’ Union Women’s Network, in partnership with the SU Environment Society, the Birkbeck Unison Environmental Representative and the Birkbeck UCU Environmental Officer, is organising a symposium to hear from women researchers on the climate crisis, to be held at Birkbeck in early 2021. 

Proposals for papers from researchers in any discipline are encouraged – we want to hear about the innovative and unique ways you can contribute to this discussion, especially those who are not traditionally given space in discussions about the environment but have meaningful contributions to make. 

Topics

To that end, scholars are invited to submit papers on any subject relating to the climate crisis, with a focus on proactive solutions.  

Topics may include but are not limited to:  

  • Feminism/gender & the climate crisis  
  • Intersectional environmentalism  
  • Politics & the climate crisis  
  • Race & the climate crisis  
  • Climate change & the law  
  • Media/journalism & the climate crisis  
  • LGBTQIA+ issues & the climate crisis  
  • Technological approaches to the climate crisis  
  • Ethical investments  
  • Neoliberalism & the climate crisis 
  • Environmental activism 

Length: Individual paper abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. Papers which require the distribution of pre-prepared materials, such as drafts, videos, podcasts, posters, etc, will also be accepted.  

Deadline

Proposals should be sent to naomi.smith2@bbk.ac.uk, no later than 31 January 2021. 

LGBT History Month and International Women’s Day

For LGBT+ History Month in February and International Women’s Day in March, the Access and Engagement Department is looking for two Birkbeck PhD candidates or early career researchers to deliver an accessible public lecture or workshop for an audience with little to no experience of Higher Education. If you are interested in doing this please get in contact by 12 February.

Our public lecture series, Get Started: Big Ideas, was previously delivered in Stratford Library, in collaboration with Newham Council. Through the pandemic we have been delivering the talks on Zoom and broadcasting using YouTube live.

The themes this year are ‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ (for LGBT History Month) and ‘Gender Equality in Eudcation’ (for International Women’s Day), so we will be looking for pitches that take these themes into account.

WHO? 
We’re looking for Birkbeck academics, particularly PhD students and early career researchers, whose research touches on topics relevant to LGBT+ History Month or International Women’s Day.

WHAT? 
Our audience consists of people with no experience of Higher Education, or those who have had a long break since their last HE experience. With that in mind, we will work closely with the academic to ensure the lecture is accessible to these audiences. More information on our department’s work.

We are open to pitches of lectures (roughly 20 minutes in length), workshops, virtual walks, or other formats that you feel would be engaging. This would usually be followed by a Q&A.

PAYMENT 
We are able to pay PhD candidates or academics who are not on full-time contracts. The pay is at spine point 31 (£21.15 per hour) and we would usually allow for 2 hours’ prep time and 1 hour delivery. In this case we will also be adding 1 hour to allow for familiarising yourself with any software needed. Please do get in touch if you have a proposal which would exceed the allotted time.

If you have any questions, please drop us a line at getstarted@bbk.ac.uk. 

Strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in ecology and evolutionary biology

The article below is written from the point of view of PhD students in the United States. It describes the experiences of Black, Indigenous and people of colour within a particular field of research but it is an informative framework to consider issues of importance for postgraduate researchers in other disciplines and for the wider postgraduate research community.

Click here to view article from the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution (July 2020)

Academic Open House

The Access and Engagement Department sits at the heart of Birkbeck’s commitment to improving the access and success of non-traditional students in London. We work with groups who may otherwise feel excluded from taking a step into higher education, including trade union members without a formal qualification above level 4; FE and adult education college students; forced migrants and those who have been out of education for a number of years.

Birkbeck’s academic and research community can support our work in a range of ways, including:

  • delivering free community lectures and/or learning activities;
  • running workshops to support those facing organisational change at work;
  • helping people to develop the skills they need to successfully navigate structural inequality;
  • offering insights into community priorities through their research.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Find out more

To find out more and discuss possible collaborations, the Department is holding an Academic Open House event on Thursday 26th September from 3-5pm in Malet Street B02. The event is open to PhD candidates, Early Career Researchers and academics at Birkbeck. We will present further information about our work across London and our priorities for 2019/20, and there will be the opportunity for discussion with other academic colleagues and members of the Department.

Big IdeasDownload
Academic Open HouseDownload

Register to attend here

To register your interest, please complete the following short form: https://bbk.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/open-house-register-of-interest
For refreshments purposes it would be helpful to know how many are able to attend the Open House event, but even if you are unable to join us on the 26th, we’d still love to hear from you so please do complete the form so we can keep in touch about future opportunities.

How to Break the Glass Ceiling?

How to Break the Glass Ceiling?

18:30 – 21:00, Thursday 27 September 2018

All Birkbeck PhD students are welcome to attend this event – if you would like to attend please register using the link above.

The event purpose organised by Birkbeck University in partnership with the IoD Central London branch, is to answer all those questions through a panel discussion from a diverse panel of Academics, Entrepreneurs and Directors. This event is aimed at women who want to meet like minded people as well as learn some new development tricks. Men are most welcome to attend.

Overview

Have you ever wondered why so many companies/universities heads were not representative of their own employee/customer/student mix? What is gender culture? What are the tools and tips which can be taken from the current business and academic environment?

The evening will consist of:

18.30
Arrival and networking

18.45
Leader panel: Short presentations from the panel on their ideas of breaking the glass ceiling

19.00
All panel discussion

19.30
Question and answer session with closing remarks

19.45
Networking reception