College of Science & Engineering

By Katie Farrell, Senior Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy Adviser

I joined the Equality and Diversity Unit in December 2014 in the role of Gender Equality Officer.

Prior to this, I had worked in the College of Social Sciences after completing my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University.

I studied Scots Law and Spanish followed by an MSc in Global Movements, Social Justice and Sustainable Development and completed my PhD in 2012.

My postgraduate research in my MSc and PhD was concerned with the asylum process and refugee status determination procedures in Scotland.

Initially, this was around women’s gendered experiences of seeking asylum and then broadened out to the way that credibility assessments impact decision-making in these cases.

I’ve always been interested in equality, human rights, and committed to the principles of access to justice and social justice; and in the systemic and structural inequalities that can prevent different people’s or group’s equitable enjoyment of these.

These principles and concerns underpin a lot of the work that we do in the Equality and Diversity Unit and across EDI work at the University, generally.

For example, we adopt a Social Model approach to disability.

The social model of disability acknowledges the disabling impact of physical, organisational, and attitudinal barriers created and perpetuated by society.

At the University, we implement ‘reasonable adjustments’ to remove, reduce or prevent the obstacles that create such impact.

And we constantly have to work harder and do better to ensure that reasonable adjustments can be made.

The University recently updated its guidance and support for implementing reasonable adjustments, including adjustment passports.

These enable colleagues to take an agreed note of any adjustments with them should they move to new roles or if their line manager changes.

This was developed collaboratively with People and OD colleagues and Trade Union representatives, some of whom work in the College.

Colleagues can also learn more by completing online training in Implementing Reasonable Adjustments and refer to additional resources like the Neurodiversity Resource Hub, developed by colleagues in MVLS.

The Social Model does mean that we often use person-centred language in our policies and guidance.

It is important to check with colleagues and students what kind of language they prefer you use when talking to them or about their experiences.

This is why the Language Café events as part of the HESTIA initiative will be so useful and constructive for members of the College.

Most colleagues and students who I have worked with in the College of Science and Engineering will have been involved in their School’s or Centre’s engagement with the Athena Swan Charter.

This is, at its most basic, a principles-led, evidence-based and outcomes-driven approach to auditing the practices, processes and culture of a school or centre to identify barriers to gender equality and devising actions to address them.

Athena Swan has received criticism in the past for being too heteronormative and ignorant of racial inequality as well as ableism in academia.

And I think this is something that we all must be alert to when undertaking equalities work. For example, as a white, cisgendered, non-disabled woman I’ve navigated the University’s processes and structures as a student and colleague with immense privilege.

It is important to be continuously reflexive to that when evaluating equality and inclusion issues and to try and take a more intersectional approach to account for the interrelated and connected forms of inequalities that people may experience.

We have started this with our work under the Understanding Racism, Transforming University Cultures Report and Action Plan, bringing in considerations of the intersection of ethnicity and gender.

More work remains in developing an intersectional lens to gender and disability within our equality work.

This can be challenging in practice. Small numbers and lack of representation can make quantitative impact assessments difficult and can place undue burden on smaller numbers of people to share lived experiences.

This is partly why, through our Executive Director of People and OD, who is also the University Disability Equality Champion, we send reminders for people to complete their Equality and Diversity information on their profile in the People XD HR portal.

In addition to the challenges of underrepresentation, our equality framework is designed in line with equalities legislation, which in and of itself limits intersectional framing of inequality and discrimination.

Initiatives like HESTIA are, therefore, particularly important because they create the conditions under which intersectional issues can be explored in meaningful ways.

Throughout this month of the HESTIA programme, I look forward to engaging with colleagues and students to connect, share experiences, and learn about the ways that we can improve our approach to equality across the University.  

 

 

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First published: 14 November 2023