Month: February 2015

Women@Imperial Exhibition comes to Hammersmith Campus

WomanA public exhibition of photographs and archive material will celebrate the work of female staff and students at Imperial past and present. Come and find out more about some of our leading female researchers, entrepreneurs and leaders.

12 panels showcasing female scientists including Professor Ten Feizi, Professor Marina Botto and Dr. Jane Saffell will be displayed in the Wolfson Café from Monday 9th to Friday 13th March.

For those who attended Martin Wilkins’ Departmental Update at Hammersmith on 17th February, this drop-in exhibition is particularly relevant to the work currently being undertaken by the Athena SWAN team to support women at Imperial and to boost the number of women who hold senior positions.

A larger exhibition will be displayed between the same dates at the College Main Entrance at South Kensington.

To interact and engage with the exhibit and the week, follow the hashtag #imperialwomen on social media.

We hope that as many you of as possible will visit to support this exhibition.

Surgery & Cancer represent at Women@Imperial event

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Female Academics and staff will be part of a reception to mark the opening of a public exhibition of photographs and archive material to celebrate the work of female staff and students at Imperial and to raise awareness about the College’s schemes for supporting women.

The reception will feature interactive demonstrations of research led by female scientists, with the Faculty of Medicine being represented by Surgery and Cancer’s Dr Liz Want (Senior Lecturer in CSM). Members of Surgery and Cancer’s Academic Opportunities Committee will feature in photography exhibition, on display in the main College entrance from the 9th – 13th March.

The Women@Imperial celebration runs February – June 2015, and includes a series of postdoc briefings by female postdoc alumni about science-linked careers outside of academia, and the Annual Athena lecture in the Summer Term, given by Professor Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Unconscious bias training dates

Managing diversity is an important part of managing people, and involves valuing diverse points of view and supporting and empowering individuals with different backgrounds and experiences. Doing this successfully contributes to the overall success of Imperial, enhancing organisational performance and delivering several benefits including the attraction and retention of talented staff, improving motivation and productivity and reducing staff turnover costs as staff feel more valued. Diverse workplaces foster a high-achieving workforce that is competent, committed, creative and capable of managing and responding positively to change.

As our understanding of the importance of diversity awareness deepens, attention has been increasingly focussed on the more subtle aspects of diversity such as unconscious bias. The College now offers specific training on this subject and as a goal of Surgery and Cancer’s Athena SWAN action plan, we are aiming to get as many people attending the training as possible, especially senior staff involved with recruitment and individuals who have line management responsibility.

All sessions will be in the morning and will start at 9.30am.

17 March – St Mary’s Campus
19 March – South Kensington campus
26 March – Venue to be arranged

Can those wishing to attend please get in touch with Ann Kelly detailing their preferred date.

Mid-career Academic Women: Strategies, Choices and Motivation

An event is taking place in conjunction with Kings College to launch a recent research report entitled, ‘Mid-career Academic Women: Strategies, Choices and Motivation’.

This event will be at King’s College London, The Strand, on Monday 23rd March 4pm-6pm.

The purpose of the event is to share the key findings and recommendations from the research, funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, in which mid-career academic women were interviewed from a variety of London institutions about their career plans. There will be a chance to discuss and debate the findings and their implications. From 5pm there will be wine, soft drinks and nibbles.

All are welcome – academics, researchers, leaders, managers and anyone else with an interest in this subject. It would be useful if you could get in touch if you plan to attend.

Please email tania.de_st_croix@kcl.ac.uk to book your space, and we will send more details nearer the time.

Downton Abbey creator visits Imperial

BlastLord and Lady Fellowes met Imperial’s President Professor Alice Gast, before being given a flavour of some of the research taking place at the College’s Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies.

The Centre, a UK first, is a collaboration between military and civilian clinicians, scientists and engineers including Surgery and Cancer’s Prof Alison McGregor, who was in attendance at the visit.

See the full College story here.

 

My Family Care: Summary for 2014

UntitledIn the College wide maternity survey in 2012 and the College wide paternity survey in 2013, 55% of women and 60% of men said that they would like to see an emergency back- up care service. In January 2014 Imperial College was the first university in the UK to use My Family Care Services to support their working parents and carers through their online portal giving access to their back up care network and range of other services.

If you would like to learn more about this service please see the My family care pages, where once registered you will have access to the wide range of services and resources they offer.

Imperial celebrates LGBT History Month

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Imperial is hosting a series of events throughout February to mark LGBT History Month.

Celebrated nationally, the month aims to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) history and raise awareness of issues affecting the LGBT community.

The month’s event will include social activities, inclusivity training courses, and a keynote lecture, as well as incorporating the launch of Imperial’s new policy to support trans staff. More information about what’s happening can be found here. 

Mentoring Scheme now open!

The Surgery & Cancer Mentoring scheme has been launched and is now open to all academic, research and support staff. If you are interested in having a mentor please use the contact form provided on the website. It is also a good idea to attend a workshop to learn what the scheme can offer you and what to expect from your mentoring relationship.

Next workshop – The next available mentoring workshop is running on Tuesday 24th March at South Kensington from 10 –1pm  – please email k.johnson@imperial.ac.uk if you would like to book a place. Workshops are for both potential mentors and mentees and are run by Fiona Richmond from the Learning and Development Centre. The sessions cover starting and ending the mentoring relationship, tools to use within the sessions, and managing boundaries. The workshops are participatory and designed to help people new to mentorship get started and for those who have mentoring experience to refresh their thinking.

We are developing a mentoring pool but still need more participants in order to meet demand and offer a wider range of experience. Not only is mentoring a vital part of a sustainable collegiate environment, it is also a thoroughly rewarding experience. Our scheme is running across all grades and job families but we have a particular need for more Academic and Clinical Academic staff at the moment. We would encourage anyone considering becoming a mentor to come along to a workshop and find out more with no obligation. There is plenty of support on hand for mentors including regular ‘debrief’ sessions.

The workshops are aimed at both potential mentors and mentees and are being held on the following dates:

Tuesday 24th March                       10 –1pm at South Kensington
Thursday 16th April                         1-4pm at Hammersmith
Wednesday 20th May                     10-1pm at St Mary’s

For more information about our Department of Surgery and Cancer scheme, mentoring in general, or to sign up for mentoring please visit the Surgery & Cancer mentor pages.

If you have any questions then please contact Kathryn Johnson (k.johnson@imperial.ac.uk)