Campus News

New opportunities to develop leadership practice

October 2nd, 2020

The Leadership and Management Academy’s Spotlight On…sessions are back and now available for booking.

These events are open to all University of Nottingham staff and are designed to be a relaxed and informal opportunity to learn about key leadership and management topics.

These two-hour events held online between 12pm and 2pm on selected dates each month are led by experts from around the university.

If you want a flexible option to learn how to have effective performance conversations, overcome “imposter phenomenon” or how to use a coaching style, then the Spotlight On… sessions can help.

To book your place and see the full range of events, visit the Leadership and Management Academy Hub.

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COVID-19 discrimination research survey

October 2nd, 2020

A new survey has launched hoping to gather views from staff who have experienced any COVID-19-related discrimination within or outside of the university environment.

Responses will be kept confidential and will be used to aid the development of a COVID-19 discrimination reporting and support system for colleagues.

Take part in the survey here.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Police forces within the UK have reported an increase in the rate of discrimination people have experienced. Literature has shown that 70% of discrimination victims took no action regarding their experiences.

The university invites you to share with us your experiences if you have felt discriminated against within or outside (shopping centres, restaurants etc.) of the university environment.

You may also report on behalf of others e.g. friends/family/students who have experienced discrimination or if you witnessed a discriminatory event happening to e.g. a shopkeeper/bus driver/NHS worker within or outside of the university environment.

Examples may include but are not limited to: being refused entry to a restaurant; train passengers avoiding you; workplace discrimination; internet comments/abuse; or even physical assaults. You may also share more than one event by repeating the process of filling out the survey again.

The research project is led by Dr Li Shean Toh. Other team members include Professor Claire Anderson, Associate Professor Shihning Chou, Dr Jalpa Ruparelia and Dr Esther Mukuka.

This study has been reviewed by the School of Pharmacy Ethics Committee (010-2020).

We recognise that this can be a distressing subject and provide information and links to sources of support available at the university within the introduction to the survey.

Whilst we would encourage everyone affected to make a submission, we understand if it is too painful to revisit previous experiences in this way.

Find out more about the purpose of this research.

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Nottingham emeritus professor among ‘phenomenal women’ in portrait exhibition

October 1st, 2020

A University of Nottingham emeritus professor is among 40 phenomenal women being celebrated in the first ever photographic exhibition to honour Britain’s black women professors.

Professor Gina Higginbottom MBE, who is also an alumna of the university, will be seen as part of the Phenomenal Women: Portraits of UK Black Female Professors, which features portraits of professors across a broad range of subjects including law, medicine, creative writing and sociology.

It was researched and curated by Dr Nicola Rollock, Reader in Equity & Education at Goldsmiths University of London, who has been examining the career experiences and strategies of black female professors at UK higher education establishments over the past three years.

Professor Higginbottom, Emeritus Professor in Ethnicity and Health, said: “I am immensely proud and privileged to be one of the 40 black female professors in this exhibition. Less than 0.5 per cent of the academic workforce in the UK are black and female. Each woman has trod a unique and individual path achieving against all the odds and overcoming many challenges. I applaud all the women for their achievements and tenacity and, of course, the research director Dr Nicola Rollock.

“I never regarded my academic role as a job – it has been and continues to be a way of life and amazing privilege.”

Professor Higginbottom’s career as a nurse, midwife and health visitor spanned 22 years and she later returned to the University as Mary Seacole Professor of Ethnicity and Community Health in its School of Health Sciences, where her research focused on ethnic minority populations and immigrant health.

Fewer than 1% of professors in the UK are black despite increases in overall levels of academic staff. Black women represent the smallest group when both race and gender are considered together. They are three times less likely to be professors than their white female counterparts and half as likely as black men.

It aims to highlight the presence and excellence of all the women included and provide a platform for debate about what it takes to reach this highest level of academic scholarship. The 40 women have all been professors at some point over the past three years. The project builds on Dr Rollock’s 2019 research which showed the barriers faced by black women as they worked to navigate their way through higher education and the strategies they used to help them reach professorship.

The portraits, which were taken by photographer Bill Knight OBE, will be on display and open to the public at City Hall in London from Wednesday 18 March until Tuesday 31 March. Professor Higginbottom’s portrait will then move to its permanent home in the University of Nottingham’s School of Health Sciences.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the Nottingham Breast Cancer Research Centre

September 30th, 2020

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – with organisations across the UK highlighting the vital work taking place to detect and treat breast cancer.

Nottingham Breast Cancer Research Centre (NBCRC) are taking this opportunity to champion their ground-breaking research and share the latest opportunities for support with fundraising activities on the way, public talks and more.

Two public events will be held on Tuesday 6 October and Wednesday 14 October where six talented members of the NBCRC will discuss their research, which has been directly funded by supporters.

Find out more and register your place here. 

 

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Global partnership provides solution to international travel challenge

September 30th, 2020

Chinese students unable to travel to America to begin or continue their studies have been given a helping hand thanks to the University of Nottingham Ningbo.

UNNC has partnered with the University of Connecticut (UConn), USA, to host new and returning students challenged by the pandemic travel restrictions.

The students were the option of completing UConn online study or temporarily transferring to a partner university in their home country – in this case either East China Normal University (Shanghai) or UNNC.

UConn and UNNC have collaborated on the full recruitment cycle, from announcement, applications, admission, billing, course registration, and accommodation.

There are now 43 students registered at Ningbo, and the arrangement has received positive press coverage in China.

Of these 43 students, 34 are new and nine are returning UConn students. The students are initially set to spend only the first semester at Ningbo, but this may be extended depending on the changing global response to the coronavirus.

While at UNNC, the students will be registered as Study Abroad students and join the orientation programme along with other Ningbo students. During the coming semester the UConn students will study at the Centre for English Language Education, which will equip them with the language, study skills, and foundation-level content knowledge they will need to meet the demands of future academic courses. The students will also receive support from professional service departments and are eligible join more than 100 student clubs and societies during their stay at UNNC.

Students have found the experience a positive step in enabling them to complete their degree programmes.

Siheng Ren, a year three student, said that he opted to study at UNNC because he liked the international style of education.

Nancy Cheng, a first year student said she valued the English teaching environment. She said: “Teaching and learning activities here are all conducted in English, which makes me feel confident that I won’t be disoriented once I’m back at UCONN.”

Zehua Sun, a second-year student has already joined the skateboarding club. He said: “Life here at UNNC is quite similar to UCONN. The two universities both have internationally diverse student population and dynamic campus culture.”

The agreement forms part of a wider tri-campus partnership discussion currently underway spanning the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Social Sciences, UNM School of Biosciences, and UNNC Faculty of Science and Engineering. Significant synergies have been identified with the potential for a number of research and teaching collaborations between the two institutions. There are also opportunities for tripartite collaborations with UConn and the University of Granada, University College Dublin, and Universidad de la Habana.

Additionally, academics from Nottingham and UConn are participating in an online panel discussion in October to coincide with Black History Month in the UK to address the subject of the role formal education has played in the cultivation of racism, and how universities in the UK and USA can work together to decolonise our curricula.

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New campaign launched to keep students safe in the CommUnity

September 30th, 2020

A new social-media campaign has been launched reminding students who are living off-campus to act responsibly when in the community and follow COVID-19 guidelines to help keep everyone safe.

The campaign, called CommUnity, provides reminders to students living in the community about good standards of behaviour, especially during the time of the pandemic. It’s a joint venture that sees the University of Nottingham team up with Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham City Council and Broxtowe Borough Council.

Look out for the campaign across the university’s social media channels and share!

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Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s blog: reflecting on the start of term

September 30th, 2020

In this week’s Recovery Blog Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Andy Long shares reflections on the start of term and highlights some of the latest elements of our outbreak response plans.

I would like to start this blog with some reflections on our first week of term.

I think many people would not have believed that, under current circumstances, we could have welcomed our new starters so smoothly nor helped our returning students adapt so quickly to a new and different University experience.

Some of our teaching colleagues have shared their experiences, which I would encourage you to read, explaining how they overcame some of the challenges this pandemic has presented and found real pleasure in being able to resume teaching in person once again.

This is extremely encouraging and testament to the enormous amount of hard work that has taken place over the summer from teams across the whole of the University.

I am well aware that we are all working hard, and often at pace, to respond to changes brought about by the coronavirus but I hope that reading some of the positive feedback of our staff and students will help to show that our efforts are effective and appreciated.

Latest social distancing measures
In his most recent statement on social distancing measures, the Prime Minister clarified that schools, colleges and universities will remain open. The Education Secretary made a subsequent statement on 29 September to confirm the government’s expectation that universities should continue a blended learning approach, with teaching conducted in person where safe to do so.

I have written to Senior Leaders to confirm that we are therefore not planning to make significant changes to our Return to Campus plans, and that staff should continue to maintain current approaches to teaching and travelling to campus.

However, given that the latest government restrictions are likely to be in place for six months, the original return date for staff who were due to return to campus in January (‘Phase 3’) has been extended to March 2021 to reflect this. In addition, in line with those off campus our licensed premises will require the use of face coverings and will become table service only.

You can read the updated guidance on Return to Campus on the CV19 Recovery Planning webpages. If or when we need to make any further changes, we will of course communicate these to you.

Outbreak Response
Further details on our Isolate, Notify, Test process have been added to the University’s Coronavirus Information webpages and we are continuing to share this important messaging with all staff and students.

The Outbreak Response Plan is also now published and our high level business continuity plans are also available for staff via the CV19 Recovery Planning webpages. This is a living document that is kept under constant review as we understand more about the impact of the pandemic on each area of our University.

Last week the NHS Covid-19 App was launched to help with contact tracing and limit the spread of the virus. The app offers a QR code check-in capability along with other helpful features including an isolation countdown timer to remind people to quarantine.

We will be displaying QR codes in buildings and temporary structures across campus and encouraging staff, students and visitors to download the app and ‘check in’ as they move across the University. If an outbreak is identified the location ID will be sent to all devices that have the app downloaded. It will then check if users have visited that venue and, if they have, provide an alert with advice on what to do. The information collected by the app is not shared with the University, so we will continue to support contact tracing by also running our own WIFI tracing programme.

In addition to these measures we have launched the findspace.nottingham.ac.uk webpage to help maintain social distancing on campus. This can also be accessed directly via the MyNottingham app. The tool allows you to search more than 200 spaces, including teaching rooms and cafes, and check how busy they are to help plan your movements around the University. Each space is continuously monitored and then rated according to the maximum safe capacity for that space, with social distancing regulations in place.

An update on testing
On Monday a new coronavirus test centre opened at University Park as part of a pilot for new walk-through sites. The new site, in the grounds of the Visitor Car Park, is a national resource hosted by the University. It is designed for people to access either on foot or bike.

Tests still need to be booked by either ringing 119 or booking via the NHS website but it is hoped that having this facility locally will increase the chances of staff and students being able to gain prompt access to tests. A second site will be opened at Jubilee Campus next month.

Later this week we will begin the first steps in our Asymptomatic Testing Service. In contrast to the national testing centres like the one outlined above this is a targeted, voluntary, programme aimed at testing those who display no symptoms of the virus. We will be starting with a pilot for staff and students in Lincoln Hall before using as part of our outbreak response activity more widely.

Respecting our community
Our University is a vibrant, supportive and caring community. To protect the wellbeing of that community – and those around us – we all have our part to play. We, as a community, will trust others to follow our shared rules and values. This is not about enforcement but about emphasising personal and shared responsibility, to ensure that we are keeping each other healthy and safe.

We also understand that there are legitimate reasons for people not wearing face coverings, and I would encourage you to read Professor Ellen Townsend’s blog on the need to show kindness and compassion for those who might not wear a mask.

However, in instances where you feel things need to be improved or you think there has been a health and safety breach, please do raise it with your line manager or engage in conversation with the person involved, if you feel able. A central reporting system is available for issues that cannot be resolved locally.

Now more than ever we all need to work together to ensure our campus environment protects the most vulnerable among us.

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Teaching staff reflect on the first week of term

September 30th, 2020

Over the last few months University staff have been working relentlessly to adapt process, systems and teaching styles to make the new academic year a success.

Many programmes have gone online so that other programmes, such as the more hands-on teaching offered by some courses, can go ahead in controlled, safe, face to face manner.

Colleagues are working at pace, adapting to a challenging environment, while combatting their own anxieties for themselves, their families as well as staff and students.

In this blog we hear from four colleagues across the university as they reflect on the first week of teaching.

Professor Steve Howdle is Head of the School of Chemistry.
Week One this year was always going to be a challenge. Obviously none of us have done anything like this before.  I’m Head of School of Chemistry and I have personal tutees in each of our four years (about seven in each group).

Up first were our Freshers. We started with a Teams call with 260 students on-line on Monday morning. Jon (Deputy Head of School) and Rossana (Senior Tutor) and I were socially distanced in front of a camera and our triple act went swimmingly, with just the right level of information, instruction and humour. We “patched in” Kyle (Director of Teaching and Learning) and Daniel (ChemSoc President) to give a real Team Chemistry feel to the welcome message. Later that day we started to meet the students for real – in their tutor groups – and that for me went really well – we sat out on the grass in the sun and chatted about University life and what the students should expect.

Next up were our returning students and again Jon and I did a Teams event for each year group to bring them up to speed on what will be different this year and how we are handling teaching chemistry under the restrictions we all face.

I knew that my groups were all back in Nottingham so I invited them to come along to Chemistry for a face to face chat – and that worked well – again the weather was kind to us and we sat outside of the building and made contact again. Certainly, it wasn’t quite business as usual but we were adapting and the overall feeling from our students was that they could see how hard we were working to get things right and I got a genuine sense that they appreciated that we were doing our very best.

Problems? Yes – a couple of students couldn’t make it – they were self-isolating – and one developed a cough in the morning and messaged me to say that she’d rather not come – all very sensible….  Oh and one student slept through his alarm! Some things don’t change.

Stefanie Sullivan is Associate Professor in Mathematics Education in the School of Education.
On Monday 14 September, we welcomed nearly 300 students onto our Post Graduate Initial Teacher Education Programmes. We have now come to the end of two weeks of blended learning, teaching the students from 9am to 4.30pm every day in either face-to-face or online sessions.

It is fair to say we were all nervous of both forms of teaching, but the overwhelming feedback from staff and students has been incredibly positive. A key success has been thinking carefully about the purpose of face-to-face teaching so the experience of coming into University is a worthwhile one and offers something different from learning in the online space. Our students have been building strong learning communities through discussing and presenting with their peers, all at a social distance. This has then strengthened the online teaching as our students are confident and secure due to the relationships they have with their peers and ourselves.

We have all had our moments of struggling – from issues with technology and learning how to work the room in a new way of teaching face-to-face, through to building in enough time to navigate one way systems and remembering to take the protective film off our visors! For all the hiccups though, it has been wonderful to start working with students again and doing what we love, teaching.

Jake Hodder is Assistant Professor in the School of Geography.
It has been a strange first week of term.  After an unusually busy and uncertain summer, the start of term has felt more of a relief than a worry. This week, I launched a new Political Geography module and (digitally) delivered the first lecture of our large, first year module, Exploring Human Geography. Like so much else, every day has felt like learning the job anew.

For me, this week’s key lessons were:

1.) Online teaching rewards directness, especially on how students can contribute, lest you be confronted with a silent wall of purple initials.

2.) Lecture engagements work better in pairs. Leading a session with a colleague helped things feel more natural and relaxed; it removed some of the intensity which students can sometimes feel with online teaching which, in turn, made them more willing to contribute.

3.) Our students are wonderful, and wonderfully forgiving. We are charting this brave new world together and, although not circumstances of our own choosing, we are all committed to make it work. Online teaching is hard work. It takes time and imagination. But it can also be unexpectedly rewarding. It is not all zoom and gloom.

Deborah Merrick is a Senior Tutor and Assistant Professor in Anatomy
I teach Anatomy to medical students in the early years of their medical course. This involves the process of full body dissection to appreciate the intricacies of the human body. With the challenges of teaching a large cohort of students under the current restrictions, myself and colleagues have spent the summer looking at ways to maintain the essential hands-on experience we believe is key to a sound understanding of this important discipline. In week 1 (day 2) we welcomed our second year medics back into the medical school for our new look Anatomy practical classes. Any anxieties about logistics and student engagement we’re soon forgotten as the students impressed us all by their mature attitude and enthusiasm to reengage with our unique learning environment.

In addition to the in-person practical sessions, we designed an on-line collaborative platform to reunite study groups and allow dissemination and consolidation of anatomical knowledge. The introduction of new software and modes of working didn’t faze our students at all, taking it all in their stride to produce some exceptional work. I cannot underestimate how impressed I am with our students. We have already received feedback that the new sessions were “really beneficial and it was a great learning experience”. To receive this in week one when we were all finding our feet is fantastic and we hope to build on the positive student and staff experience as we progress through the semester. The need to redesign our teaching this year has been challenging, but I have real optimism that our changes will benefit to our students today and for many years to come.

Continuing to adapt as the term progresses
In line with the Guiding Principles for Teaching in 2020/21 Professor Sarah Speight, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning has been clear that we will continue to listen and learn from our students as the term progresses, so that we can ensure our teaching is effective.

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Celebrate Black History Month 2020

September 29th, 2020

A number of events are taking place at the University throughout October in celebration of Black History Month, acknowledging history is being made not just during this month but every minute, every hour, every day, every week and month.

Black History Month has been celebrated in the UK for more than 30 years. It acknowledges signature moments in the history of the UK and is a celebration of the magnificence of cultural diversity and the enriching value in peaceful co-existence.

At Nottingham we are committed to supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for our staff and students and will be celebrating Black History Month virtually for 2020. We’d like to encourage everyone to get involved, join our celebrations and share details of the programme within their respective areas.

Highlights of the month include:

Early October: EDI Blog: Baroness Young, Chancellor, recognises Black History Month

Wednesday 7 October: Online Panel – What is Black Joy? 5pm – 6.30pm
The event will be open to the whole of the University of Nottingham community via MS Teams Live.  Sign up via Eventbrite.

To launch this year’s Black History Month celebrations, please join us for this discussion about what Black Joy means to members of our university community – including staff, students and alumni. Hosted by Dr Maria Arruda (Chair of the BAME Staff Network), our panel of speakers will share in the insights and reflections about how Black joy is a presence in their lives and celebrates what it means to be Black.

Panel of Speakers:
Karel Green: Astronomy PhD Student: Centre for Astronomy and Particle Theory, University of Nottingham
Lukeki Kaindama: Epidemiologist, Public Health England
Serena Mitchell: Economics UG Student, University of Nottingham
Shanice Vincent: NextGen Movement UK

Wednesday 21 October: Online Panel: Why We Need Black Radicalism, 5.30pm – 7pm
The event will be open to the whole of the University of Nottingham community via MS Teams Live.  Sign up at Eventbrite.

As part of our Black History Month celebrations, we will look at the role of Black Radicalism in creating and maintaining Black Joy. Black radical movements are often presented with military agendas that aim to overthrow systemic racism at any cost. However, radical philosophies, including many Afrofuturist concepts, ask us to reimagine society in positive and nurturing ways. Black radical collectives continue to explore ways of belonging and supporting people from all positions including centring queer and disabled voices and the thoughts of those in incarceration.  Hosted by Dr Hannah Marie Robbins (Assistant Professor in Popular Music), our panel of speakers will look at Black radicalism that centres freedom, possibility and imagination.

Panel of Speakers:
Janine Francois (Central St. Martin’s)
Lisa Robinson (UoN)
Professor Anthony Reddie (Regent’s Park College, Oxford)
Larissa Kennedy (President of the NUS)

Thursday 29 October: Fireside Chat between Baroness Young, Chancellor and Professor Shearer West, Vice Chancellor
5.30pm – 6.30pm
Register your place here.

As part of our Black History Month celebrations, Stacy Johnson MBE will be hosting a fireside conversation between Baroness Young, Chancellor, and Professor Shearer West, Vice-Chancellor. This will be an opportunity for the Chancellor to introduce herself to the university community as well as sharing her plans for the future.

The Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor will be reflecting on the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests from a personal and university perspective. There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the role of Black History Month and the importance of Black Joy for the University of Nottingham and its city.

Dr Maria Arruda, BAME Staff Network Chair, said: “The year of 2020 has served as a magnifying lens on racial inequalities, graphically revealing the consequences of colonialism and imperialism in shaping the white supremacist systems that still prevail in our Society.

COVID-19 has shown the impact of structural racism, with members of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community being hit the hardest by this modern plague, not because of the colour of their skin, but the fact they are disproportionately represented among frontline workers and the victims of discrimination as workers and patients. The murder of George Floyd reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement, turning trauma into action, revealing to the world the systemic violence against Black individuals across the Globe.

These discussions have trickled down to the core of Higher Education, with Universities around the Globe examining their role in perpetuating racist practices and how institutional racism has negatively impacted the scientific ecosystem, contributing to the leaky pipeline that prevents BAME, particularly Black individuals from a career in Academia. 

Black Joy is the way the Black community has responded to the most terrifying modes of oppression for centuries, not only surviving, but thriving amidst violence and contempt. The University of Nottingham’s decision of focusing this year’s BHM events around the theme Black Joy will bring our community together to celebrate Black History while continuing to hold long-overdue discussions on how to be a truly anti-racist institution, with local, national and global influence.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and People Professor Sarah Sharples said: “I am really pleased to see such a varied and dynamic programme of events that has been led by our staff and students for Black History Month, and would like to thank the organising committee for their hard work. This month represents a vital opportunity for learning and celebration for all, whether or not we are members of the BME community, and I strongly encourage University staff and students to take some time to attend at least one of the events which are taking place.
Alongside the events, during October, we will be continuing to finalise our Race Equality Charter submission which will guide our prioritisation of action for several years ahead, building on feedback from our BME students and staff. In addition, Professor Emmanual Adegbite is chairing our group which is advising on actions to address the ethnicity and gender pay gaps. I also hope that Black History Month will provide a focus on the response from the University to the issues raised in the open letter received from our Black student societies in response to the Black Lives Matter protests.
I wish the team every success with the exciting programme of events”.

Activities, events and more across our Faculties, Schools, Departments and Professional services are listed below:

Saturday 3 October: Peggy’s Skylight on George Street, Nottingham.
JOY! Jazz Music of the African Diaspora featuring Tony Kofi and Dennis Rollins presented by the Department of Music

Twilight Show 6pm:https://peggysskylight.co.uk/events/joy—jazz-music-of-the-african-diaspora-featuring-tony-kofi-dennis-rollins-guests-twilight-show
Highlight Show 9pm:https://peggysskylight.co.uk/events/joy-jazz-music-of-the-african-diaspora-featuring-tony-kofi-dennis-rollins-guests-highlight-show

Curated and hosted by the Music Department in conjunction with Peggy’s Skylight, a highly-regarded jazz venue in Nottingham. A professional house band will accompany a variety of current Black singers and instrumentalists, including the award-winning Dennis Rollins MBE and MOBO-nominated, multi BBC Jazz and Parliamentary Jazz Awards winner (and local legend) Tony Kofi , to perform music which celebrates the canon of Black jazz composers.

Tuesday 6 October: 5pm – 6pm – The Black People’s Side of the Story”: The Historical and Transatlantic Roots of Black Lives Matter.” Virtual talk by  Dr Hannah-Rose Murray presented by the Student-Staff EDI Group: School of Veterinary Medicine and Science and School of Biosciences.
In this virtual talk, Dr Hannah-Rose Murray will explore the trajectory of Black activism and agency from the nineteenth century to the modern period. Using the written, visual and performative testimony of survivors of US slavery in particular, she will trace how their words are still very much relevant today through contemporary challenges to racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Thursday 8 October: 12:30pm – 2pm: BAME Virtual Networking Event presented by the Faculty of Engineering.
Students sign up via MyCareer
After the success of the Equality and Inclusion in Science and Engineering event for students in February, the Faculty of Engineering are hosting a virtual event where BAME students can meet enthusiastic BAME role models within the Nottingham Alumni community. The event will create a safe space for students to ask questions about how to start their careers and navigate the world of work and provide Alumni with an opportunity to reflect on their careers and impart advice and wisdom to the next generation of Nottingham graduates. This event will be open to students from across the Faculty of Engineering.

From Saturday 10 October – Sunday 8 November – The Southbank Centre presents outdoor exhibition celebrating Britain’s Black female professors.
Commissioned and curated by Dr Nicola Rollock, and photographed by Bill Knight, it features portraits of 45 professors across a broad range of subjects including law, medicine, creative writing and sociology. The exhibition runs from 10 October – 8 November 2020 , timed to coincide with Black History Month , and is presented along the Southbank Centre’s very popular public riverside promenade The Queen’s Walk in London.
Find out more.

Wednesday 14 October: 5pm – 6pm – Lets Talk About Race” Navaratnam Partheeban British Veterinary  Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS) presented by the Student-Staff EDI Group: School of Veterinary Medicine and Science and School of Biosciences.
This virtual talk will focus on questions that have been raised by our staff and students such as ‘how to talk about race’ ‘how to be an ally’ ‘ I am a white person who wants to help – where do I start?’ ‘What is the correct terminology?’ ‘Why it is wrong to say you are blind to colour?’ ‘What is the difference between being non-racist and being anti-racist’?

University of Nottingham Libraries
Building on last year’s Black History Month reading recommendations campaign, Libraries will be purchasing electronic versions of students’ and staff’s top recommended reads to celebrate Black history, culture and achievements, promoting them through their website, blog, Instagram and Twitter throughout October. Expanding the digital leisure reading collection means that students and staff can still access these important books at no cost, without needing to enter library buildings.

Celebration of the Black Community presented by The Faculty of Engineering.
The Faculty will be showcasing various Black Alumni, students and staff profiles online throughout the month, shining a spotlight on the achievements and successes of the Faculty’s Black community.

Every Tuesday in October: 12:00 – 12:45pm Culture Café presented by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Sign up via the School of Health Sciences Black History Month Teams chat
A virtual lunchtime ‘Culture Café’ will be held every Tuesday in October, where members of the UoN community will be invited to share stories about their cultural background, careers and experience of being Black in Britain.

Monday 19 October and Thursday 29 October, 2pm – 3pm  – What’s in a Name? Celebrating Black Identity and Culture presented by the Nottingham University Business School.
Are you an African or African Caribbean UoN Student or Young Person in Year 3 to Year 9 in a Nottinghamshire School?  This event will inspire your creativity and deepen your understanding of identity and culture.
Sign Up Via Eventbrite.
The Nottingham University Business School celebrates Black History Month with the ‘Name’ Challenge, which is a widening participation and civic engagement initiative.  The ‘name’ challenge aims to help young African and African Caribbean people to deepen their understanding of identity and culture as they explore the origin and meaning of their names.  Through research and sharing of name stories, the young people will ‘own’ their names and take joy and pride in their meaning.  The challenge is an opportunity for participants to share about their heritage, to learn from each other and to build more confident individuals who are respectful and tolerant of each other’s cultures. Award vouchers will be given to the best presentations in three categories:  Key Stage 2 (Year 3 – Year 6), Key Stage 3 (Year 7 – Year 9), and University of Nottingham Students.

Monday 19 October: 5pm – 6.30pm – Is the University Colonial?: Critical Conversations on Its Past presented by the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Policy and Engagement and University of Connecticut’s Office for Global Affairs
Sign up via Eventbrite
An online panel of leading scholars from Nottingham and Connecticut, chaired by Maria Arruda (Chair of the BAME Staff Network), will discuss the role that universities have had in cultivating racist narratives and inequality in society. This will set the scene for two future talks that will look at the positive role that formal education can and will play in ensuring future equality for all.
Speakers: Prof Lewis L Gordon, Prof Sandy Grande and Prof Cecile Wright.

Wednesday 21st October 2020: 4pm – 5pm – Ubuntu: A decolonial epistemic shift for education, presented by Dr Sobantu Sibanda, Canterbury Christ Church University.
Sign up via Eventbrite
The School of Education celebrates Black History Month by exploring contributions to educational thought from Black thinkers and scholars. The focus of this webinar is Ubuntu, the Southern African theory of being. Ubuntu as a philosophy is predicated on a communitarian conceptualisation of being captured in the saying, “I am because we are, and since we are therefore, I am” (Mbiti, 1969).
The webinar draws on the expertise of Dr Sobantu Sibanda, whose doctoral research explored Ubuntu as a theory of social and educational justice. Dr Sibanda will explain the African philosophy of Ubuntu, show how it represents an alternative epistemology, and suggest how it can be harnessed as a critical tool to inform research and teaching. He is particularly interested in exploring ways in which Ubuntu might contribute to decolonial pedagogies.
After his presentation, he will take questions and engage in discussion with attendees, and suggest readings and resources for those interested in pursuing the topic further

Thursday 22 October: 4pm – 6pm – What is the ‘Black Student Experience?’ An Open Conversation presented by the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies.
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This one-off event is designed to create an open conversation about what the ‘Black student experience’ involves.
In the context of the BLM movement, growing awareness of the BAME attainment gap, and increasing vocalisation from Black student bodies about higher education experiences, this virtual panel discussion will explore the complexities of both individual and collective Black student experiences.
Hosted by Isobel Elstob (Assistant Professor in History of Art, CMVS), panellists Salema Foot (PhD researcher, University of Kingston), Kaleah Alexander (CLAS UG student) and Joshua Madojemu (CLAS UG students) will discuss key issues relating to Black student experience in higher education, before inviting the event audience to share their own thoughts, experiences, and ideas in a broader collaborative dialogue.
This event is open to students and staff and is funded by the School of Cultures, Language and Area Studies and the Faculty of Arts.

Friday 23 October, 5.30pm – 6.45pm: Conversations on race in science and medicine: what can we learn from history today? 
Sign up via Microsoft Teams.
The School of Life Sciences is celebrating Black History Month with an event that explores race in science and medicine from a historical perspective. Leading researchers have been invited to discuss their work on how ideas on racial difference came into being and how these ideas continue to influence racial inequalities in health and healthcare today. The event is open to everyone and is being run as part of the School of Life Science’s Excel in Science programme. The programme aims to support our students and to tackle the fact that BAME students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are under-represented in funded postgraduate research and hence remain under-represented in academia as a whole.

Monday 26 October: 4pm – 5.30pm: Black, Other – Underappreciated Narratives on Race and Science presented by the UoN BAME Staff Network.
In this session, we will explore underappreciated narratives of racism and colonialism through the eyes of two UK-based Brazilian Academics, Dr Katucha Bento and Professor Carla Figueira de Morisson Faria.
Sign up via Eventbrite.

Tuesday 27 October at 5pm and Thursday 29 October at 12pm: BAME Careers in Science Event presented by the Faculty of Science.
Student sign-up via MyCareer.
After the success of the Equality and Inclusion in Science and Engineering event for students in February, the Faculty of Science are hosting two online Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Careers in Science events as part of Black History Month in October 2020. These will be open to students from across the Faculty of Science, and will give them chance to hear from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Science Alumni about their careers and experiences.

Wednesday 28 October: 10.30am – 11am Coffee Morning and Talk on the Tuskegee Airmen (the first all-black USAAF squadron in World War Two) presented by the School of Medicine.
The Tuskegee Airmen was ‘set up to fail’ on the assumption that black people didn’t have the skills to fly.  Yet they became one of the most successful units of the ward and other inspiring black aviators, including Eugene Bullard (who despite being American had to join the French Air Force in order to fly in the First World War) and the story of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, another all black unit that was tasked to provide ‘Smoke Jumpers’ who parachuted into fires started by Japanese incendiary balloons.

Friday 30 October onwards – In Safe Hands – The Voices of Black Britain presented by the Faculty of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies.
Register your interest here.
In Safe Hands -The Voices of Black Britain is an online exhibition and audio documentary that celebrates the Black pioneers who claimed necessary spaces in British radio broadcasting from 1920s-1990s. From Calling The West Indies and Caribbean Voices in the 40s/50s, to the thriving pirate radio stations in the 80s, to Choice FM in the 90s; In Safe Hands, takes you on a journey exploring the often neglected stories of the voices of Black Britain who served their communities whose culture, tastes and interests were not being catered for by the mainstream. The project is hosted and curated by Ayesha Taylor-Camara a PhD student in the Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Other events may be announced throughout the month.

Various Events presented by UoN Student’s Union include:

2/9/16/23: 7pm: Culture Fridays (BME Network)
19 October: 6.30pm – 9pm: In conversation with Fabian Rivers –  The Dready Vet (Sutton Bonington Guild)
8/13/20/27 October: 8pm – 10.30pm: Film Party – Celebration Black History Month (Sutton Bonington Guild)
23 October: 10am – 4pm: Instagram Takeover – UoN Biosciences Alumni (Sutton Bonington Guild)
5/9 October: 10am: Blood Donation Campaign (Afro-Caribbean Medical Network)
16/30 October: 10am: 15 Inspirational Black Brits in Healthcare (Afro-Caribbean Medical Network)
12/17 October: African Diaspora Social Media Campaign (Ghanaian Society)
28 October: 3pm – 6pm: CV Clinic (Ghanain Society)
4/11/18/25 October: 6pm – 10pm: Black Joy – Online Radio (Sudanese Society)
7 October: 3.30pm – 8.30pm: The Exhibition (One Heritage)
29 October: 5pm – 7.30pm: The Space – Breaking Barriers (One Heritage)
6 October: 6.30pm – 9pm: Movie Night (East African Society)
14 October: 6.30pm – 9pm: Paint and Sip (East African Society)
26 – 30 October: 7pm – 9pm: Instagram Lives (East African Society)
2 October: 5pm – 7pm: Celebration of UoN Black Alumni (Nigerian Society)
12 October: 5.30pm – 7pm: Britain’s History with Somalia (Somali Society)
3 October (onwards): Discounts for students from Black Businesses (Women’s Network)
15 October: Time TBC: Praising the Black Woman Through Poetry (Women’s Network)
8 October: 5pm – 6pm: Medical Racism with Visible Unseen (Disabled Student’s Network)
21 October: 3pm – 6pm: Nottingham ACS Conference (African Caribbean Society)
3/17/24/31 October: Mid Afternoon: Black Queer Film Screenings (LGBT+ Student’s Network)
14 October: 4pm – 7pm: Online Black LGBT+ Student’s Social (LGBT+ Student’s Network)

Please visit the SU website for more information

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Tackling racial inequality at the University

September 28th, 2020

A commitment to improve the reporting of hate crime, halve the awarding gap and set measurable targets to increase the diversity of staff have been pledged by the University, responding to the issues raised by staff and students during the Black Lives Matter protests.

The University outlined the commitments in an action plan to tackle racial inequality. In developing the plan, we listened to the concerns of our Black staff and students and heard that we need to go further and do more. The plan highlights current activity alongside new projects that are designed to directly address the barriers facing Black staff and students. It was developed in consultation with the BAME Staff Network and the University’s Black student societies.

The Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West and Professor Sarah Sharples, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People, met with leaders of the University’s Black student societies during the protest. These discussions fed directly into the action plan, with Professor West and Professor Sharples making a commitment to accelerate change, stay accountable and maintain an open dialogue.

The action plan will be a regularly updated document and is hosted on the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpages. It will be formally updated once a term, noting progress on any actions. However, work on those actions and their impact will be regularly communicated to staff and students via the University’s news channels and representatives from staff and student networks– along with calls for support and feedback on the work done so far.

Professor Sharples has written a blog updating staff and students on this work, recognising the points raised in discussions and outlining what the University will do in response. She also thanks Black students and staff for their contributions and conversation

Progress and actions will be outlined on every update of the plan. Work carried out so far includes:

  • identifying a new ‘report and support’ package for students reporting hate crime, harassment, discrimination and microaggressions
  • developing content for a staff training package on hate crime, harassment and bystander intervention
  • creating a Stronger Together learning pack for academic staff to use during student inductions in the September 2020 Welcome period and beyond
  • starting work to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is a core quality standard in curriculum design, ensuring the EDI is considered in the development of all new modules and programmes
  • commencing work on a corporate social responsibility procurement strategy, including a commitment to anti-racism

Professor Sharples said: “By committing to the actions detailed in a comprehensive plan, and making our progress on those actions public, we are making ourselves visibly accountable to act on our promises.

“Black staff and students have shared their experiences with us, and guided the University on what our response should be. This plan wouldn’t exist without their honesty, patience and generosity in sharing their knowledge and experiences. I ask you all to track our progress, give us your feedback, and work with us to improve the working and learning environment for our Black staff and students.”

Hera Aryubi, BME Officer in the Students’ Union, said: “I think it is a good plan and response to our black students’ comments and concerns. It seems like it covers a wide range of areas in University life and there are actions put in place to achieve them.

I think this plan is a constructive response that black students will appreciate. It is much better than the university’s initial response to the protests.”

Dr Maria Arruda, Chair of the University’s BAME Staff Network, said: “I am pleased to see direct responses to the issues we raised earlier this year. This approach opens a space for a constructive dialogue with the community, and we look forward to keeping the conversation going.”

Visit our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpages for more information.

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