10.00, Friday 11 December 2020
Summary
Duration: 2hrs 15 minutes
Facilitator: Dr. Addy Adelaine
Subjects: Lived Experience; identity & allyship
Format: Online with breakout groups
Description
This interactive online workshop is designed to introduce key concepts relating to lived experience, identity and allyship. Focusing on the context of higher education, post-graduate study and research, we will explore how individuals can become good allies.
• How do you support individuals, of different identities, when they are confronted with chal-lenges that you have never experienced?
• How do you ensure that your work, research and practice is ethical and inclusive?
For those looking for realistic ways to become a good ally, we will present a guide to the 10 key aspects of good allyship, and practical examples of action.
This workshop recognises the emotive and sensitive nature of the debate on this topic. With this in mind, we aim to create a safe space for critical discussion. Participants are not required to have any prior knowledge of this topic in order to engage.
Agenda
10:00 – 10:20 Start & Introduction
As an introduction, I talk about my personal pathway into academia and the ‘lived experience’ of being Black in academia. By highlighting my own story, I attempt to contextualise and humanise higher education data. This introduc-tion also serves as a means of building participant trust with the presenter/fa-cilitator.
10:20 – 10:40 Identity
In order to progress the conversation, I talk about the concept of identity and why it is significant. This session gives individuals the language to hold further conversations and may well answer a few questions they may have been afraid to ask. I will touch upon - the social and medical models of race; how race and ethnicity are typically defined and measured in the UK; and why individuals purposely adopt certain identities and choose to reject others. I will also introduce the concept of intersectionality.
10:45 – 11:15 Groupwork Scenarios
After a brief introduction to the concept of decolonisation, individuals will be split into groups and given a scenario which echoes a real-life debate and events affecting universities or researchers. In their groups, participants will be asked to consider different stakeholder views and the action they might take.
11.15 – 12.00 Introduction to Allyship
After some feedback and discussion on the groupwiork scenarios. This last section of the workshop will seek to identify some of the key concepts which underly the subjects of allyship. I will touch upon the subject of anti-racism and decolonisation as a form of allyship whilst offering practical case exam-ples and examples of best practice.
12:00 – 12:15 Final thoughts and goodbye
This event is linked to the Academy’s COVID-19 Career Support Space, which has personal stories and free resources on a range of topics including Challenging Inequalities, Leading Your Team and Stress & Overwork.
These events are free to attend and will be held entirely online. Please book your place in advance, so our facilitators know how many to expect.