Presentation slides are now available from the recent Making the Headlines conference, which was organised to help staff engage and use the media to raise the profile of their work.
Visit the News Room to find out more.
Campus News
Making the Headlines review
December 12th, 2018
Tags: Making the Headlines, media, Press Office, research
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The Guardian University Awards 2019
December 12th, 2018
Applications are now open for the annual Guardian University Awards which celebrate excellence and innovation across the higher education sector, including awards for research impact, teaching excellence, the student experience and internationalisation.
Applications are made via two 300-word submissions which outline the project, its innovation and how it was delivered, alongside clear evidence of significant impact. The project must have started in the past 18 months, but need not necessarily have finished if definitive outcomes are proven.
It will cost applicants £250 to submit an entry, although this is discounted by £50 during the ‘early bird’ period which runs until Thursday 31 January 2019.
Applications close on Friday 15 February 2019 with judging taking place across March. Shortlisted entries will be invited to attend the awards ceremony in London on 10 April 2019.
For further information on the categories available, entry writing tips and to submit your nominations, please visit Guardian University Awards.
If you are considering an entry, please advise External Relations by emailing jenny.stevenson@nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: Guardian University Awards
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Supporting expectant and new parents
December 12th, 2018
The University has committed to the Working Forward pledge, a national campaign run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Sponsored by Professor Sarah Sharples, PVC for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the pledge focuses on improving practice to support expectant staff and new parents, from expecting a baby through to settling back in at work.
Committing to the principles of the Working Forward Pledge was an action identified as part of our 2017 Athena SWAN action plan, including providing better support for expectant and breastfeeding colleagues.
Professor Sharples said: “Having children is a key time in someone’s life, and how we support that can make a huge difference. Building on our successful Athena SWAN Silver award, I’m pleased to be able to further our commitment through the Working Forward Pledge. I hope that colleagues will take a moment to access some of our new provision to help support expectant and working parents”.
As part of our commitment to the pledge, new guidance for staff and managers to help support breastmilk expressing at work is now available, and dedicated facilities — Athena SWAN Parenting Rooms — have been identified to provide a private, hygienic and secure area for breastfeeding staff and students to express and store breastmilk, or to feed their baby if they prefer to use a private location for breastfeeding.
Useful links to more information:
- Details of all parenting rooms and how to access them
- New guidance to support breastmilk expressing at work
- Updated HR Information Booklet for Parents
- Conference and Training Care Fund, which helps cover reasonable additional childcare costs incurred due to attending training
- Mentoring for staff who are expectant or new parents, or for their line managers. Contact christine.wilkinson@nottingham.ac.uk or complete the Request a Mentor form. To offer mentoring to someone who is an expectant or new parent, please complete the Apply to be a Mentor form.
- Flexible Working Guidelines for Managers
- Further information on Working Forward
Tags: Athena SWAN, Diversity and Inclusion, equality, parent, pregnant, Sarah Sharples, Working Forward
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Reverse mentoring scheme
December 12th, 2018
To support equality, diversity and inclusion the University is starting an innovative ‘reverse mentoring’ scheme which staff are invited to participate in.
The ReMEDI Project (Reverse Mentoring for Equality Diversity and Inclusion Project) is funded by the University of Nottingham-University of Birmingham Education Partnership Fund and led by Stacy Johnson, School of Health Sciences and Dr Val Watson, Head of the University Counselling Service.
Reverse mentoring is when a person in a senior position is mentored by someone in a more junior position than themselves. The ReMEDI project, will pair University staff and students from black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds with senior staff and student leaders who are white or from a different ethnic background. The aim is to give staff and students in leadership roles a better insight into what it is like to be a BME member of staff or student at the University.
Reverse mentoring provides an opportunity for staff and students of all ethnicities to engage in honest, open and respectful dialogue about the talent of people from BME backgrounds and the barriers they can face. The insights generated will contribute to improving the educational and professional experience of our diverse staff and student community and contribute to the overall inclusive culture and performance of the University.
Are you a student or member of staff from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic background? Could you reverse mentor a UoN leader?
We are looking for BME staff and students to act as reverse mentors. Any member of staff or student who identifies as being from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic (BME) background can be a reverse mentor if they are willing to share their experiences with someone from a different ethnicity to themselves.
- Staff members from BME backgrounds willing to be trained as a BME reverse mentor can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/bmestaffreversementors
- Students from BME backgrounds willing to be trained to reverse mentor staff members can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/bmestudentreversementorstaff
- Students from BME backgrounds willing to be trained as a BME reverse mentor to reverse mentor students and student leaders can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/bmestudentreversementorstudent
Are you a member of staff or student leader who could benefit from being a reverse mentee and having a BME person reverse mentor you?
We are also looking for reverse mentees i.e. staff and students of all ethnic backgrounds who believe they would benefit from being reverse mentored by a BME student or BME staff member. Have you ever wondered how BME students experience your course or the service you provide? Have you ever wondered what barriers to progression the BME staff you line manage face? Reverse mentoring could help you in your role whether you are a lecturer, librarian, technician administrator or in catering services. Anyone in any University role which deals with staff or students wishing to better understand the experience of BME staff and students can benefit.
- Staff members (potential reverse mentees) wanting to be allocated a BME member of staff to reverse mentor them can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/staffstaffreversementees
- Staff members (potential reverse mentees) wanting to be allocated a BME student to reverse mentor them can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/studentstaffreversementees
- Students and student leaders (potential reverse mentees) e.g. peer mentors, course reps, SU Officers, clubs, societies and sports leaders, JCR Committee members etc., wanting to be allocated a BME student to reverse mentor them, can click here for more information: https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/studentstudentreversementees
The six-month staff-staff relationships and three-month student/staff and student/student relationships, will provide a space for staff and students at UoN to explore areas of good practice and generate ideas and priorities for improving the inclusive culture of the University and those with whom we work.
If you want to find out more about reverse mentoring, click on the links above or email stacy.johnson@nottingham.ac.uk.
Tags: BME, edi, Equality Diversity and Inclusion, mentoring, ReMEDI, Reverse mentoring, Stacy Johnson, Val Watson
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The VC’s blog — December 2018
December 12th, 2018
In her last blog of 2018, the Vice-Chancellor reflects on some of her personal highlights of the year, and offers her thanks and season’s greetings to everyone in our community.
Read the blog at www.nottingham.ac.uk/About/Vice-Chancellor/Blog/Blog-017.aspx.
Tags: shearer west, VC, VC's blog, Vice Chancellor
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The Lifestyle discount programme
December 10th, 2018
You can now access the University’s new Lifestyle discount programme through the Employee Hub.
This programme provides all contracted staff at UoN with access to over 6,000 discounts and offers at local and national retailers – including airport parking, travelling with National Express and reloadable cards at many supermarket chains. This expanded offer replaces the Edenred discount site.
Through the Lifestyle discount programme you can save up to 40% at most UK Cinema chains, and buying a cinema e-code through the site before 31 December 2018 will enter you into a competition to win a family trip to Disneyland Paris.
Don’t forget you now also have access to the Employee Assistance Programme, a confidential 24/7 service freely available that offers advice and support on a wide range of personal and workplace issues.
You can also now buy a Staff NUS Extra (now called Totum) card that will provide you with the same range of offers and discounts available to students.
You can find out more through https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/your-benefits/the-employee-hub/the-employee-hub.aspx or by accessing the Employee Hub directly at www.uonemployeehub.com.
Tags: benefits, Employee Hub, Lifestyle Discount
Posted in Announcements, News, Opportunities | 1 Comment »
WasteNott campaign: first progress report
December 6th, 2018
At the start of the September 2018 academic session we launched #WasteNott — a campaign to reduce the amount of single-use plastic being thrown away at the University of Nottingham. With your help we’ve seen some great early progress — but there’s still much to be done.
The aim of WasteNott is to encourage and support the reduction of single-use plastic waste across our UK campuses. In its first phase, the campaign focuses on the following areas identified in the recent Plastic Challenge Survey: single-use hot drink cups, plastic bottles, straws and plastic cutlery.
While the initial stage of the campaign focuses on the four selected areas, we have continued to receive suggestions of other ways we can make changes. Thankyou to everyone who has contributed ideas. Responses to a number of questions have been published on the campaign FAQs page.
Though WasteNott is still in its early stages, we can report some developments to date. Firstly, plastic straws have been removed from the front of house in all University-run catering outlets. Bendy plastic straws are still available on request should they be needed.
Secondly, we have seen an increased use of reusable hot drink cups around the University since the start of session, supported by the implementation of a levy and discount system on disposable and reusable cups respectively. This system has been implemented at campus cafés, Students’ Union outlets and Sodexo-managed cafés.
As of mid-November 2018:
- The use of reusable cups has saved more than 10,500 disposable cups being thrown away
- At campus cafés, 14% of drinks have been served in reusable cups compared to 72% in disposable cups
- More than 900 UoN KeepCups have been purchased on campus
These figures provide a solid start yet they also show that we still have a long way to go. While reusable cup use has increased over the term, so too has disposable cup use. We want to change this: our aim is to reduce the amount of single-use hot drink cups used on our UK campuses by 50% by August 2020. Find out more about our targets.
To support this goal we will continue to promote reusable drink cups, with UoN-branded KeepCups available for sale at catering outlets across campus.
Alongside our focus on hot drink cup waste, we are encouraging a 30% reduction in plastic bottle waste. To support this we have committed to installing more water coolers in accessible spaces around our campuses. These installations have been supported by the Environment Initiative Fund. Further details are currently being finalised and locations will include the Teaching and Learning Building, the Portland Building, the Medical School, Engineering Science Learning Centre (ESLC) and The Barn.
Speaking about the results of the WasteNott campaign so far, Andrew Nolan, Director of Sustainability at the University of Nottingham, said:
“I am delighted to see some positive change early in the campaign — and I know that there is much higher awareness of the issues around single-use plastics. Well done to those of you who’ve made changes to your purchasing decisions — you’re doing great things. I hope more people will follow your lead.”
Thank you to everybody who has supported the WasteNott campaign so far by asking for refills, choosing to reuse and joining the conversation in person and online.
To keep an eye on all the latest news and updates, visit the campaign website — and don’t forget to tag us in your campaign pictures on social media using the hashtag #wastenott.
The WasteNott targets:
- Reuse: Use reusable drink cups and help us achieve a 50% reduction in hot drink cup waste by August 2020
- Refill: Use refillable bottles and help us reduce plastic bottle waste by 30% by August 2020
- Refuse: Say no to unnecessary single-use plastic
Tags: recycling, Refill, Reuse, Single use plastic, sustainability, waste, WasteNott
Posted in Announcements, News, Side news story, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
New Higher Education Minister
December 5th, 2018
Chris Skidmore MP was appointed as a Minister of State for Higher Education, jointly at the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 5 December 2018.
His government biography is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/people/chris-skidmore.
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People Strategy Committee: November update
December 5th, 2018
The People Strategy Committee is a Committee of Council dedicated to the University’s most important asset – the staff who deliver our research, teaching and professional services.
Chaired by Council member Lynette Eastman, its membership includes the Vice-Chancellor, Council members, external representatives and senior representatives from our academic and professional services colleagues. Meeting quarterly, the Committee reviews strategy, advises on approaches and drives delivery on initiatives to improve conditions, ways of working and methods of engagement.
At its meeting in November, the Committee focused on the following key areas:
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)
Fola Ikpehai, an expert in organisational EDI strategies from SUMS Consulting, provided an overview of the key trends and best practice in EDI in higher education. Fola indicated that the most successful EDI strategies have a supportive infrastructure, senior leadership commitment, an active EDI team takes responsibility for staff and students collectively, and clear evidence-based prioritisation and outcomes.
Fola explained how EDI maturity develops, moving from compliance with legislation through long-term evidence based planning, to an embedded unconscious competence across an institution. While no single university has yet reached that level of maturity, there are good examples in both the wider public and private sectors.
Sarah Sharples, PVC for Equality Diversity and Inclusion, provided an overview of the approach to EDI at the University underpinned by four themes. Theme 1 is the University, Nottingham and our Global Community; a place where all staff and students visibly contribute to the values of the University and feel included. Theme 2 is Equality of Experience for all staff and students; where EDI activity is transparent and active. Theme 3 is Collaboration and Partnership; to enable all staff and students to initiate and deliver appropriate activities, share challenges and best practice. Theme 4 is Excellence and Ambition in Delivery of Embedded EDI; where sound proactive governance ensures issues are acted upon. This vision is being developed into a strategy that will be shared across the University in due course.
PDPR Review Update
HR Director, Jaspal Kaur confirmed that the new approach to PDPR, to be known as the Appraisal & Development Conversation (ADC), would be announced shortly. The new ADC removes ratings to enable focus on meaningful conversations and would be implemented from May 2019. A separate approach to performance-related reward would be developed across the current academic year. As part of the wider work on reward, the Employee Hub was launched on 12 November 2018 as part of the Week of Wellbeing.
The Committee will meet again in January 2019.
Tags: edi, Equality Diversity and Inclusion, PDPR, People Strategy Committee
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The University of Nottingham seasonal e-cards
December 5th, 2018
This year’s seasonal e-cards are now available for staff to send to colleagues, associates and partner organisations.
By sending an e-card you will be contributing to the University’s sustainability goal and supporting our commitment to being a leading green university. You may also wish to make a donation to Breast Cancer Research or a charity of your choice in lieu of the money you would have spent on cards.
If you would prefer to purchase a printed card, the Manuscripts and Special Collections team have a range of festive cards featuring seasonal images from unique and rare books.
This year we have created two e-card designs – please visit the downloads page to choose your preferred design and for full instructions on how to send.
If you’re having trouble accessing the ZIP file, please email brand@nottingham.ac.uk and they will be able to provide it in an alternative format.
Season’s greetings to all at the University of Nottingham. Enjoy the holiday season and we wish you all the best for the New Year.
Tags: Christmas, e-cards, holiday season, seasonal
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