With the daily news from colleagues in the US, the rhetoric in UK politics, and decreasing budgets and increasing bureaucracy at home, it can feel like conversations become more cautious and civility is under pressure. At the same time, we still talk about fairness, community, and belonging. How can those two things go together? The question comes at a complicated moment when it’s easy to become deflated, but the answer is important. Because how we respond now will shape what kind of School we become in the years ahead.

• Inclusion isn’t just nice to have, it’s how we do our best work. At the heart of our School are its people: students, lecturers, researchers, professional services staff, technicians, cleaners, everyone. And when people feel valued, safe, and able to be themselves, they contribute more. That’s not ideology, it’s just common sense. If someone is constantly second-guessing whether they belong, or if their ideas will be taken seriously, or if they’ll be overlooked for promotion again, that takes energy. And it takes a toll. On the flip side, when we actively create spaces where people feel included, we get better ideas, better decisions, and better outcomes for students and staff alike. Inclusion isn’t separate from excellence — it’s what makes excellence possible.
• Trust matters, especially during uncertainty. Let’s face it: our university is under strain. Industrial action, funding pressures, curriculum transformation, severance schemes, posts not being backfilled, culture wars. It’s a lot. And in tough times, people start paying closer attention to how decisions are made. Are they fair? Transparent? Who gets consulted, and who doesn’t? That’s where inclusivity really shows its value. It’s not about writing another strategy. It’s about building trust. Making sure people feel heard. Creating systems that don’t just work for the top, or even “most people”, but for everyone. When trust is strong, we can weather change much better. When it’s not, even small changes can feel like a betrayal.
• Yes, EDI is facing pushback, but we shouldn’t abandon it. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion are under more scrutiny these days. Some media call it “divisive,” others say it’s a distraction. And sometimes it does get stuck in bureaucracy or becomes disconnected from real impact. That’s a fair critique, and one we should listen to. But that’s not a reason to give up on it altogether. It’s a reason to make it better. Let’s focus on what actually changes people’s day-to-day experience: open conversations about differences, clear progression routes, and accessible support. That’s where our real culture happens.
• This isn’t someone else’s job. Culture is not something that sits with the People & Culture committee only. It lives in the everyday: who speaks in meetings, how feedback is given, what gets rewarded, and who feels able to challenge things. It does not just come from the senior leadership, but is built from the simple things. Anyone who works with others, teaches, supervises, mentors, or makes decisions has a part to play. It isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being aware, being open to learning, and being willing to take action when something isn’t right. We all get stressed at times. We all get things wrong. What matters is how we respond.

Budget cuts, criticism, and a seemingly growing public opinion that goes against our values – under such an onslaught of bad news, the temptation may be to pull back. To dial down inclusivity strategies and focus on “the essentials”. But Civility is essential. Curiosity, Integrity and Humility aren’t a bonus. They’re our baseline. Without them, we lose trust, engagement, talent, and ultimately, credibility. So do let’s keep going, and continue to Collaborate in ways that are grounded, transparent, and human. To ask honest questions, to listen when colleagues tell you what’s not working, and to build a culture where we help each other thrive. Not because it’s trendy. Not because it’s required. Because it’s right. It’s what makes us better, as a University, as a School, and as people.

Oct 9, 2025

Some areas of our ways of working can be improved. AdvanceHE recently carried out a consultation, leading to the report “Understanding Ways of Working“. It is freely available for you to read, and AdvanceHE will present it at the October School General Meeting. The report gives a clear overview of where we can improve as a School (as well as data to support changes at the University level). Thank you all for your input!

The next step is, clearly, to actually make things better. The report has some recommendations, and the School already had several other ideas. They are summarised on this padlet. Have a look. Do you feel these actions would be useful? Would you change or add any? Please add your take, so we end up with an concrete action plan that improves, nay perfects, our ways of working together!

Aug 23, 2024

The following is posted on behalf of an anonymous member of the School community.

Considering it affects all our colleagues with ovaries (and their families too), I wanted to share a few pointers about peri-menopause.

I was ignorant. Very ignorant.

• I thought menopause happens around age 60. In fact, the average is 51.
• But most women will suffer symptoms from age 41-45, many already at 38-40.
• I thought the symptoms would be the popular “hot flushes”. But those arrive years later (or not at all), the first symptoms could be pain in your joints, shortness of breath, dry eyes or dozens of others (some of us thought we had long covid…)
• I thought doctors would prescribe hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) for it, in many cases.
• However, many doctors have no training in it, there is a shortage of HRT, and some will tell you that “most women will pass through menopause without medical help”.
• That’s accurate; not because medical support is not important, but because HRT was not prescribed much in the past…
• You may have to ask around to find a doctor who can inform you about HRT.
• If you and your doctor decide for it, it’s free with the NHS.
• I thought menopause was just a few weeks of hot flushes, and then ageing continues as usual.
• Instead, perimenopause can last from a year to 12 years (about 4 or 5 years seems to be common).
• While the symptoms are bad enough, the worst might come after ten or twenty years, particularly if hormonal replacement therapy is not used.
• It can set the stage for osteoporosis (and hence bone fractures), bladder infections, incontinence and even a higher risk of some diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
• It can be particularly stressful for people with a history of mental health problems, possibly contributing to a peak in suicides in women around 50-54.
• But at the same time, hormonal replacement therapy is associated with an increase in breast cancer and stroke risk,  depending on family history. The hammer and the anvil. Welcome to middle age.
• As usual, read the statistics carefully and rely on medical sources (NHS, EU EMA, reviews from The Lancet) and medical professionals, but well-written books can provide a useful introduction.
• I would recommend reading at least one book by a doctor having ovaries and peri or post-menopausal.
• I thought that if the symptoms were so bad, surely friends would have told me about it, but it’s not a jolly topic to discuss. And there is a lot of stigma. Ask around politely, and people may be kind enough to share.
• Also, women from your mother’s generation may not have been informed enough to connect the dots with all the symptoms that appear sometimes years after their periods stop.
• I thought one could wait to see if the symptoms go away, and if not, use hormonal replacement therapy, but there is a window of opportunity in peri-menopause to start it, so do inform yourself in advance.

Hope you will find this information useful now or in the future. Please note that any medical treatment (or herbal extracts containing human-analogue hormones) incurs risks that you will have to evaluate in consultation with your medical practitioners.

Oct 20, 2023

Why do some people care about pronouns? What’s the fuss? Over nothing?

 

All good questions. You can refer to me as Jonathan, him, him over there, that guy in IGS, the tall one, him and that makes sense because I look like what people think a guy should look like. I like to wear a spikey rainbow ear stud I got at Belfast City airport Claire’s Accessories (classy!) and wear a Progress Pride flag lanyard (hands up who knows what that’s all about) but generally my attire is your boring jeans and shirt/t-shirt. I’m wearing blue today. It’s probably easy to get my gender right from a glance.

 

What if you didn’t know me, you saw me down the corridor, with my back to you, my hair was long, I had bracelets on my wrists, wearing pink. Do you have unconscious bias, built into you from birth, that girls wear pink and have long hair? Most of us do, growing up in countries which to this day sell pink for girls and blue for boys, where gender reveal parties provide one of these two colours to announce to your audience the genitalia on the scan. The thing is, we know better, especially working in a higher education institution where people feel more confident that they can experiment with who they are, find out about themselves, discover. People more and more are discovering that the thoughts they had from a young age, about not fitting into the body with the genitalia that everyone assumed, doesn’t mean they have to live the rest of their life as what modern day ‘Western’ society tells them they’re supposed to be.

 

A widely respected body, the World Health Organisation has reviewed the research and concluded that trans people exist, that it’s not a mental health condition as was once believed, that people should be supported to transition and live their lives how they understand themselves to be. Their pronouns will change, they may look different to how you first met them; for them they will look how they have always felt they should look. It’s about respecting one another. We must use those new pronouns, use their new name, ask how they are and hope we can be good enough for them to want to still give us their time, not be feared that we’ll use their old name, their old pronouns. You will make mistakes. Apologise as soon as you realise. Try not to make the same mistake again. If you don’t do it well enough they won’t want to give you another chance. They won’t want to work with you.

 

A male police officer made a mistake about my sexuality and I will always remember it. He asked me about my wife, after I had reported a crime. My husband was out and I was on my own. He was in my home with another male police officer. It wasn’t long ago. I was probably 40. Why is my age relevant? I have built up a reasonable amount of self-confidence by now to be able to correct him. It was the funniest thing, how red he went, apologising profusely. His fellow police officer was amused at his colleague’s error. You can imagine they talked about it later. At one point I wouldn’t have corrected him. It might happen again, I will remember and I will always expect that possibility from every police officer in the future.

 

If people assume they know my sexuality, it can be incredibly uncomfortable for both of us when they realise their mistake. Maybe you’ve experienced that yourself. Maybe you’ve had a non-traditional hairstyle for your gender. At some point you’ll have chosen your outfit to look masculine – I have – or to look how a woman is expected to look. It’s similarly uncomfortable every day someone assumes they know another person’s gender and they’re wrong. Every day. For students and staff in Informatics. Pronouns matter to them. Using their correct pronouns matters to their friends. It’s not a fuss over nothing. It’s people’s lives, their self-confidence, their feelings, whether they feel comfortable at this University, in the classroom or the workplace, and that should matter to us all.

 

For further reading:

https://pronouns.org

https://www.glsen.org/activity/pronouns-guide-glsen

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/workplace-trans-inclusion-hub/beginner’s-guide-pronouns-and-using-pronouns-workplace

A Short Guide to Sharing Pronouns for Trans Allies

 

Aug 11, 2023