Dr Barbara Adewumi has worked closely with Diversity Mark Intern Officers on several interesting projects throughout March and April. Barbara has presented various pieces of work at institutions around the country promoting the importance of diversifying the curriculum. If you’d like to find out more please read the update below.
March
Mentoring and University Insights for Black Students – an outreach programme with Kent student ambassadors.
The Mentoring and University Insight for Black students was launched on 3rd March as part of a four-week programme for year 12 black sixth form students. At the first event Dr Barbara Adewumi presented her PhD research on ‘Black middle parents and their aspirations for their children’, Barbara provided practical considerations when researching universities prior to applying through UCAS as well as various opportunities at Kent to work on research projects. Along with Diversity Mark Intern Officer Patrice Mighton they spoke about work-study skills and the benefits of student collaboration on projects such as Diversity Mark.
Eastern Arc: Challenging Racism and Decolonising the Curriculum podcast series
Dr Barbara Adewumi and Diversity Mark Intern Officer Patrice Mighton appeared on a topical podcast series hosted by Eastern Arc, a research consortium including staff and students from East Anglia University and Essex University on the topic of Challenging Racism and Decolonising the Curriculum. They discussed how Diversity Mark works in practice, the effects it can have and how difficult it can be to reset long-held Euro-centric assumptions.
April:
Eastern Arc: Challenging Racism and Decolonising the Curriculum webinar discussion panel
Back by popular demand! Dr Barbara Adewumi, Patrice Mighton and students and staff from East Anglia University and Essex University participated in an Eastern Arc webinar panel discussion on Decolonising the Curriculum answering questions from various HE institutions.
“What role does evidence play in closing race equality gaps?” TASO Conference panel discussion
Dr Barbara Adewumi and Patrice Mighton were guest speakers at the first Centre for Transforming Attainment Student Outcomes in HE (TASO) event on evidence and evaluation and appeared alongside Leicester University. The popular conference was attended by 300 guests on the first day. TASO awarded the Diversity Mark project a £60,000 grant to evaluate the impact of the project on reducing the race equality gaps. Student Success is working in partnership with Professor Kathleen Quinlan and Research Associate Dr Miyoung Ahn from CSHE.
Anglia Ruskin University Diversity Mark webinar presentation
Dr Laura Bailey from SECL, Dr Barbara Adewumi and special student guest Wayne Laviniere (SECL’s Diversity Mark Intern Officer in 2019) were invited to host a webinar presentation and Q & A session for library, teaching staff and students at Anglia Ruskin University on how to diversify reading lists. They spoke about their collaborative work on their Diversity Mark projects in SECL and SSPSSR and challenges/opportunities this presented – the feedback received was extremely positive.
“Many thanks to the Diversity Mark team for the excellent webinar. It was great to have your insights into this important work on diversity in the curriculum, and to hear first-hand how it has benefited students”.
“Finding time to attend the Diversity Mark session was well worth it. I’m grateful to the speakers who were all generous and engaging in discussing their project”.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update. Keep an eye out for more ‘On the ground’ updates from the Student Success Team.