International Women’s Day 2024: Investing in women to accelerate progress

To mark International Women’s Day 2024, our Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Judith Squires, reflects on progress made towards gender equality at Bristol, our efforts to make a positive impact on the lives and careers of women both locally and nationally, and the importance of year-round commitment to these issues. 

 

International Women’s Day (IWD) is an occasion to recognise the incredible work of women around the world – and for leaders of organisations everywhere to consider the investments we are making in gender equality and career progression for our female colleagues.  

I want to take this opportunity to reflect on our progress here at Bristol in relation to this year’s United Nations theme, “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”, and the IWD campaign, “Inspire Inclusion”. 

As a global civic university, we believe that our aspirations can – to quote our 2030 Strategy – “be best shaped and delivered collectively by a diverse and empowered university community”.  A key component of that approach is improving our processes and structures to provide a level field for every member of our community.

Over the years, the University has made good progress with the gender pay gap, and initiatives have been put in place to encourage female leaders and remove gender inequality in the higher education sector. We have been working collectively with the City of Bristol and civic partners to encourage enterprising women, tackle sexual violence and harassment and to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive city.  

There is still work to be done, but I wanted to share some of the ways in which the University has been investing in women to forge a gender equal and inclusive future.  

Advance HE Athena Swan Charter 

The University of Bristol was one of the founding signatories of the Advance HE Athena Swan Charter, which serves to remove gender inequality and underrepresentation in the higher education sector. We are delighted that the University’s commitment to equality has been recognised in the 20 school-level awards and, in February 2023, we were also awarded a highly commended institutional Silver Swan Award.

Moving towards gender parity  

It’s encouraging to see the steady progress in our reduction of the gender pay gap at Bristol; our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Evelyn Welch, gives further detail on this in her IWD blog post today, but both the mean and median pay gaps have reduced each year since we began reporting in 2017. 

Although we are pleased to see this progress, we know we have more work to do. Achieving gender parity remains a top priority. We now have 34% female professors, exceeding our initial target of 33% and the sector average of 28.5%. We are now aiming for 50% of professors to be female by 2030, as part of our commitment to eliminate the gender pay gap within the same time frame. Some of the key actions we have identified include engaging each of our faculties in action at local levels to improve female professorial representation across their disciplines.   

We also aim to better understand and address the implications of part-time working for gender pay, promoting the potential for job sharing for colleagues in leadership roles and developing a targeted programme to better support parental leave returners (prioritising part-time returners) to work on challenges and enablers for their future career progression; and undertaking intersectionality pay gap reporting annually, since group identities such as race and gender cannot be fully understood in isolation from each other.   

Career development 

Another important area of investment to support women in the workplace is a breadth of development opportunities. It’s great to see the Female Leadership Initiative going from strength to strength: we had a record number of applications this year and we currently have 60 participants across two cohorts.  

I am really pleased that the Bristol Women’s Mentoring Network goes from strength to strength. We are in the process of matching the current applicants and have received 129 mentee applications and 96 mentor applications. This is a huge increase from last year’s cohort which saw 44 pairs being matched. The new mentees are keen to use their mentoring relationship to develop their career progression. 

We continue to support applicants to the Elevate programme, aimed at women from Academic staff (up to grade L) and Professional Services staff (grades E-K) from Black, Asian or Minority ethnic backgrounds who identify as female. The programme creates a unique opportunity to meet, share, support and learn together.  

Alongside this we have 10 academic staff and PGRs from across disciplines on the WHEN (Women’s Higher Education Network) 100 BWPN this year. This particular programme seeks to enable systemic change in institutions to effectively address the lack of Black women professors, targeting all areas of the academic research pipeline. 

Empowering Parents in HE, led by Dr Jenny Crane and Dr Erika Hanna, is looking at enhancing research culture by embedding learnings through a co-produced artwork which explores and celebrates parenting alongside working at the University. The project leads aim to work with schools and senior management across the University to action recommendations for supporting parents. 

And if you’re interested in hearing from a range of inspirational women across the University, Nadia Soliman is hosting a Leadership Ethos event on 30 April. This event draws on Nadia’s experiences, both within and outside academia, with a focus on how we can empower everyone to lead and exhibit leadership behaviours. The event will launch the Leadership Ethos Framework, which will be accessible to the sector via a web hub that includes tools and resources.  

All of this progress and investment is the result of sterling work by a range of teams and networks, including the Women’s Staff Network, to provide spaces, platforms, visibility, mentoring and advocacy. Bristol-based programmes such as the Female Leadership Initiative and the Bristol Women’s Mentoring Scheme have also energised our activities supporting female progression.  

Continuing the conversation 

We’re marking IWD 2024 throughout this month: next week, I’ll be introducing Progress and Equity in Maternity Care’, a discussion between Emeritus Professor Jean Golding and Dr Charlea Williams from Bristol Medical School; and I’ll be continuing the IWD conversation on this blog with another post, going into more detail about our local partnership to tackle sexual violence and harassment on campus, our support of global women’s empowerment through our global civic work, and other initiatives and collaborations.  

As Evelyn remarks in her IWD post: “Every day, not just one day of the year, belongs to women around the world”. I wholeheartedly concur, and I look forward to further progress on gender equality at Bristol, with the help, commitment and invaluable input of so many of our colleagues. 

 

Professor Phil Taylor to join the University of Bath as its next Vice-Chancellor and President

Professor Phil Taylor, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, is stepping down at the end of July after four years at Bristol to take up a new position as Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of Bath. (more…)

Athena Swan Silver award for University of Bristol

It is a testament to the exceptional teamwork of colleagues across the University that we recently achieved a ‘highly commended’ institutional Athena Swan Silver award.

We can all be proud that Bristol was one of the founding signatories of the Athena Swan Charter. When it launched in 2005, the Charter looked to encourage and recognise the career progression and employment of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine (STEMM) – sectors which typically show a strong imbalance towards men.

In the intervening years, we’ve seen great progress in our community, particularly in the School for Biochemistry which successfully achieved the fantastic and very rare accolade of gold award last year.

At the institutional level, in 2018 we committed to not only tackle gender inequality, but also to taking a gender and ethnicity intersectional approach to our work. We also committed to eliminating the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) in the Professoriate +/-3%, and to increase the number of female Professors to 30% by 2023.

We have since made excellent progress across the board, particularly in relation to issues of representation, culture, and career progression. It was the thorough and detailed intersectional analysis of our quantitative and qualitative student and staff data that was particularly commended in our application for not only highlighting our current key gender equality issues but also discussing the positive impact of initiatives put in place since our last Athena Swan application.

We have seen the successful implementation of a new academic promotions framework that more effectively rewards and recognises the full range of academic achievements, the Elevate programme, Bristol Women’s Mentoring Scheme and the Female Leadership Initiative.

These initiatives, coupled with other specific policy changes, such as our reimbursement of childcare and caring costs for conference and training attendance, have resulted in improved career opportunities for all areas of the pipeline.

Significantly, in 2020 our plans to eliminate the gender pay gap were set out in a landmark Collective Agreement between the University and Bristol UCU – the first agreement of its kind at a UK university. It included:

  • Increased opportunities and support for flexible working;
  • A new Promotions Framework that would not under-value work that tends to be disproportionality undertaken by women;
  • Improved academic career support and development.

These actions have contributed to the continued rise in female staff successfully applying for to Associate Professor and Professor during the period of successive Swan applications ( of successful cases were female in 13/14, 45% in 16/17, 52% in 21/22), resulting in 31% female professors in 21/22, exceeding the target of 28% that we had set ourselves for this point.

Signing the Collective Agreement with Suzy Cheeke, Vice-President of Bristol UCU

Elsewhere, I am really pleased we have made significant progress amongst the student community with regards to diversity of ethnicity, by increasing targeted scholarship opportunities for groups underrepresented within HE, narrowing of the awarding gap from 12.7% (2017) to 7.6% (2021).

While we have seen great progress in recent years, our most recent Self-Assessment process made clear that while we have met our aspirations to date, there is still much work to be done. We have now identified new EDI priorities and targets to 2030, including 50% female professors and eradicating the gender pay gap altogether. We are also collaborating with the Student Union, the 1752 Group, and the Office for Students to tackle gender-based violence. We will also continue to remain responsive to issues arising from our students and staff; for example, via our Voice and Influence group, which is foregrounded with an intersectional focus by providing a forum for Chairs of Staff Networks to discuss common issues of equality inclusion across multiple identities.

Our ambitions are high, and our institutional journey towards equality continues. We will get there, and our new University Strategy, coupled with our new gender action plan and Swan Implementation Group, will accelerate the rate of change over the coming years.

We are absolutely committed to reaching these targets to harness the passion of colleagues across the University to foster a supportive, inclusive and caring environment for our whole community.

Further information: Athena Swan Charter | Advance HE (advance-he.ac.uk)

Celebrating the new £10m ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures

By Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost

Image of Judith Squires After two years of online celebrations, I was exceptionally proud to join colleagues in person last month for a Provost Celebration of Academic Achievement. We were celebrating the major £10m funding success of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Sociodigital Futures, led by the University of Bristol.

The Bristol-led Centre for Sociodigital Futures has an ambitious research agenda, focussing on the intersections of digital technologies and social practices, and what might be done to drive these towards fair and sustainable ways of life.

Its aim, as described by its Co-Directors, Professors Susan Halford and Dale Southerton, is to “investigate these sociodigital futures in the making across diverse domains of social life and different areas of digital innovation to explore where it might be possible to tip the balance towards inclusive, reflexive and sustainable trajectories.”

How do our sociodigital futures take shape?

Digital technologies are transforming everyday life and bold claims are being made about how intelligent robots, autonomous vehicles and the ‘metaverse’ will shape our futures. These claims are important because they drive corporate investments, government policies and business strategies, and they inform our hopes and fears for daily life. Yet we know from the past that futures claimed rarely turn out as predicted.

The interplay of digital technologies with the complex realities of everyday life produces multiple and unexpected outcomes, with far reaching implications for the economy, politics and social life. And, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and widening inequalities, what lies ahead seems more uncertain than ever.

The new Centre aims to generate new approaches to fairer and more sustainable societies; to render emerging sociodigital futures both “intelligible and actionable” with direct impact on policymaking, organisational practice, community participation and technology design.

A flagship investment and a true collaboration

The ESRC Research Centres are flagship investments, which are expected to be national and international Centres of Excellence. Only four or five centres are funded every two years, across the full range of Social Science disciplines. In this round, there were 89 original expressions of interest to the ESRC, with five bids funded.

It brings together world-leading expertise across eight schools in Social Sciences, Engineering and the Arts, and will be led from the University of Bristol. Academic partners are based at the Universities of Edinburgh, Lancaster, Birmingham, Goldsmiths University of London, and University of the Arts, London.

The centre will also work in collaboration with core strategic partners BT, Defra, Maybe, Locality, the National Cybersecurity Centre and UNESCO, and has an international partner network across five continents.

The ambitious research agenda will explore how digital devices, services and data are shaping (and being shaped by) everyday practices of consuming, caring, learning, moving (people and goods) and organising.

At the same time, the Centre will explore how cutting-edge technologies – artificial intelligence, high performance networks, robotics, and augmented/ virtual and extended reality – are imagined and innovated for a range of futures linked to these areas of practice.

The event itself showed the extent of this collaboration and we heard speeches from Professor Phil Taylor (PVC Research), Professor Simon Tormey (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Law), Professor Karla Pollmann (Dean of Arts) and Professor Ian Bond (Dean of Engineering), as well as from Susan and Dale.

We were also pleased to welcome some of our partners and raise a celebratory glass with them.

Next steps

A lot of preparation work for the Centre for Sociodigital Futures is already underway, with a planned started date of 1 May 2022. The Centre will run for an initial five years, but it is expected there will be opportunities to renew funding beyond that.

I want to pay tribute to Professors Susan Halford and Dale Southerton, and the team in our Research and Enterprise division (RED), who supported the bid development, and congratulations to everyone who contributed to this fantastic achievement.

Find out more about the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures on our website.

Our gender and ethnicity pay gaps: an update

By Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost

This week we published our 2021 Gender Pay Gap and Ethnicity Pay Gap Reports. I’d like to highlight some of our progress, and to outline a few of the things that we are doing to build on our commitment to foster a diverse and inclusive community and eliminate the gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

Gender Pay Gap Report

We have seen a modest reduction in our mean organisational gender pay gap for the third year in a row to 18.3% in men’s favour. While this progress is welcome, we remain committed to reducing this further through a range of targeted actions including the continuation of the Women’s Mentoring Network to support academic and Professional Services communities, and the Academic Promotions Framework to reward and recognise the full range of contributions and achievements.

This year’s cohort of 42 new professors has increased the proportion of our female professors to 30.4%. Having exceeded our mid-term University Strategy target of 28% female professors last year by 1%, I’m pleased to report that modelling of our population data suggests we are on track to meet our target of 33% by 2023.

As a result of numerous local and central initiatives our female professor population has increased by 10.5% over five years. This reflects a much longer journey, undertaken by committed colleagues across the institution, to tackle inequalities in the academic career pipeline and to change our cultures and structures to better support women at all stages of their career.

For example, our Women’s Mentoring Network is currently supporting 78 new mid-career mentees from both academic and Professional Services communities; and the Female Leaders Initiative (FLi) supported 30 more women from across all career levels in both academic and Professional Services teams. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone who has participated in these schemes: I’m delighted that engagement in these has been so strong. I’m confident that they will make a real difference to our institutional culture over time, and support the career development of our female colleagues in the immediate term.

Ethnicity Pay Gap Report

In line with our institutional commitment to anti-racism and as part of our wider commitment to improve the representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people across our workforce, we also monitor our ethnicity pay gap – that is, the difference in average pay between White and BAME staff.

In our second year of reporting this, ahead of it becoming a legal obligation, our ethnicity pay gaps have reduced to 2.9% median and 7.2% mean in favour of staff who disclose as White, compared to 5.7% median and 8.6% mean in 2019. We are also exploring the ‘intersectional’ pay gap between gender and ethnicity for the first time, and with future years’ data we will be able to improve our understanding of how this intersection contributes to gender inequality at our University and to develop targeted action.

Within the professoriate, and based on a 93.8% ethnicity disclosure rate, 8% disclose as being from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background, and 92% identify as White. By gender these figures are 2.4% female and BAME, 5.6% male and BAME, 28.0% female and White, and 64.0% male and White. This confirms that we still have a lot of work to do to improve the BAME representation of staff at a senior level. In the coming year we will explore an appropriate target for BAME population in the professoriate, to complement our female population target in a review of our Strategic Performance Indicators. We look forward to making greater progress in this area.

Elsewhere at Bristol, we have been tackling BAME under-representation by revising our approach to apprenticeships. This includes developing a pipeline of talent from groups traditionally under-represented in professions such as finance, IT and human resources. Currently 75% of trainees across Professional Services are from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background.

The under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic women at senior levels is an issue across the HE sector. To help address this we have launched the Elevate programme in 2021 – the first pilot of its kind – with 30 participants (eight academics and 22 Professional Services staff) across the GW4 universities.

There is much more we can – and will – do towards our goal of closing the gender and ethnicity gaps altogether. I look forward to working with colleagues across the University to continue this important work.

 

Progress in widening participation

By Professor Judith Squires and Lucy Collins, Director of Home Recruitment and Conversion

Inclusivity and diversity are central to the University’s mission: the ambition to be a University fully integrated into the communities we serve was a central pillar of the 2016 University Strategy, as was the aim to be a ‘destination of choice’ for students from all backgrounds. In the last four years, thanks to support from colleagues across the University, real progress has been made. While there’s still a great deal more to do, we should be proud of what we’ve achieved and reflect on the benefits of a socially diverse student community.

How far have we come?

End of cycle data indicates that our 2020-21 first-year intake will be our most diverse yet. 74% of them come from state schools, up from 65% in 2016-17. In the last year, we have increased our proportion of students from low participation neighbourhoods, the local area, mature learners and those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. We have also tackled the challenge of reducing the gap between the most socio-economically advantaged (POLAR 5) and the least (POLAR 1) – more than halving the difference since 2016.

This progress matters. It matters in terms of meeting our widening participation targets with the Office for Students (OfS), but more importantly, it matters because we are now recruiting brilliant students who previously may not previously have studied with us.

How have we got here?

Bristol has always strived to be a socially diverse institution, but what’s driven our recent progress in in this space?

I think the answer lies in our determination to be more radical. To recognise that the structural disadvantage students from under-represented groups face requires structural change. To see that it’s not enough to hope that students who attend schools and colleges with low progression rates to higher education, from neighbourhoods where university was not the norm, who have caring responsibilities or faced a disrupted education, would simply find their way to us and meet the terms of our standard offers. Rather than expecting students to assimilate to us, we needed to disrupt our own admissions process.

We started with Bristol Scholars. Launched in 2016-17, Bristol Scholars took a radical new approach to widening access. It aimed to capture the talent we knew existed in our locality, demonstrate the University’s commitment to Bristol’s schools and colleges and provide alternative entry routes into our programmes to those who would otherwise be excluded due to our high entry requirements.

Meeting with some of the first cohort of Bristol Scholars in 2017.

At the heart of the Bristol Scholars scheme was a determination to move beyond traditional methods of identifying talent to reach those with potential. The scheme recognised the impact of educational and domestic disadvantage on students’ predicted grades and invested Headteachers and Directors of Post-16 with the power to identify those students who would benefit most. Abandoning our standard approach to admissions, Bristol Scholars received tailored offers of up to four grades below the typical offer, with additional support provided in Year 13 and into their first year of university.

Our Bristol Scholars are a diverse group. Of the 2019 intake, 85% live in POLAR 1 or 2 neighbourhoods, 91% attended a state school or college and 33% were part of the Free School Meals cohort. Many have experienced profound educational and domestic challenges – some have recently arrived in the country as refugees, others have been victims of crime, acted as young carers, or experienced significant mental and physical health issues. All have lived up to the potential identified by their nominees.

Our first cohort, the class of 2020, secured impressive results. Despite having entered the University with grades well below our standard entry requirements, outcomes were nonetheless strong. With a continuation rate of 90%, 18% graduated with a first, 55% with a 2:1 and 27% with a 2:2.

There was no template for the Bristol Scholar’s scheme, no evidence base from which we could predict the success, or otherwise, of the programme. We launched with a belief that a radical new approach was needed to widening access, that we would commit to the programme and learn lessons.

This continues to be our approach. Recognising the critical role that admissions play in diversifying our student community, we have extended our contextual offer scheme and launched a guarantee offer for students on our targeted outreach schemes (reaching almost 2,000 a year). We have committed to raising more than £1million for a new range of scholarships which will support around 130 Black and mixed-Black heritage students over the next four years at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and are developing a range of flexible entry routes.

Finally, our ambition extends beyond our own student body and into the community of which we are a part. Through the Venturers Trust, we now sponsor nine schools within the City of Bristol, a mixture of primary, secondary, sixth form and specialist provision. All these schools serve highly diverse communities, many with very high levels of socio-economic disadvantage. We play an active role on the Board of the Trust as well as providing Governors in all schools, ensuring the best possible outcomes for all students.

Building on our progress

The last four years have shown that bold thinking, a desire to challenge orthodoxy and a commitment to structural change, can lead to a more diverse student community. With the help of colleagues from across the University, we look forward to attracting even more brilliant students from under-represented groups in the years ahead.

An update on our institutional approach to COVID-19

In this latest update on our institutional approach to COVID-19, we set out the University’s new offer of free mass lateral flow antigen (asymptomatic) testing ahead of the winter break. We also outline plans for January 2021, our revised policy on the use of visors during in-person teaching, and preliminary findings from last month’s staff wellbeing pulse survey.

Mass testing of students 

From Monday 30 November to Wednesday 9 December, we will be offering free mass lateral flow antigen (asymptomatic) testing for all our students. These lateral flow tests can return a rapid result.

Students will be offered two tests, ideally leaving three days between the first and second test. Results will go to the student directly. If students do return a positive result, they will be required to self-isolate and book a standard PCR test. If this test also returns a positive result, provided it was taken by 9 December they should be able to complete the required period of self-isolation and still travel home for the winter break.

Our two test sites will be located in the Bristol Students’ Union Anson Rooms (BS8 1LN) and at North Village Wills Conference Centre (BS9 1AE). Students can book their tests online and read what to expect on the day and what to do if they test positive, and find more detailed information on our new ‘Mass testing’ webpage.

Asymptomatic staff intending to travel may also make use of this testing service. However, please do keep in mind that the focus of this particular window is student travel. We are currently in active dialogue with Public Health England to explore whether we are able to offer testing beyond the end of the national testing window. Meetings are ongoing this week and we will look to confirm our position as soon as possible thereafter.

January 2021

Subject to any change in government guidance, and in line with our risk assessment framework, we will be continuing our blended learning and assessment offering to students in January. We do however wish to provide students with the opportunity to stagger their return to campus in 2021 following the winter vacation, to allow them to make the best choices about their study circumstances given the continuing impact of COVID-19.

We are asking Schools to decide on a programme basis whether students are required to be in Bristol for weeks 11 and 12 and the assessment period, and to communicate this accordingly. We anticipate a second testing regime will underpin their safe return prior to any in-person teaching.

Face coverings and visors on campus

As part of our commitment to listening to feedback and taking evidence-based decisions where we can improve on our practices, we are making some refinements to our current guidance and operations, which we hope colleagues will find helpful.

Following feedback from the Student Pulse Survey, debate at the recent special meeting of Senate and consideration at the University Executive Board about the impact wearing both a face-covering and visor can have on teaching and learning, we have reviewed and revised our requirement for visors to be worn in addition to face coverings in in-person teaching spaces.

Updated SAGE and related sub-groups now advise that, while face coverings are likely to be effective at reducing the emission of respiratory droplets and aerosols containing virus into the environment, the effectiveness of standard visors as a mitigation, especially where two-metre distancing can be maintained, is now considered minimal.

In addition, the evidence in terms of cases suggests there is little to no evidence of transmission of the virus in teaching spaces across the campus and that the risk of transmission is low.

Based on this, University Executive Board has decided that visors are therefore no longer mandatory. Face coverings will continue to be mandatory in all our spaces unless there is a specific risk assessment in place that defines different measures.

Face visors will still be available for use if teaching staff or students feel wearing both would provide reassurance or where there is an underlying health condition.

Staff wellbeing survey

We are currently finalising our analysis of last month’s staff wellbeing pulse survey, the preliminary findings of which were shared on today’s livestream. The survey was designed to take a temperature check of aspects of our wellbeing and how it’s supported. With more than 2,000 respondents, headline findings include:

  • 55% of colleagues agreed or strongly agreed their overall wellbeing at work was good;
  • 72% of colleagues agreed or strongly agreed their manager shows sufficient concern about their wellbeing;
  • compared to 2018, fewer colleagues are never (-4%) or occasionally (-9%) stressed;
  • more colleagues are frequently (+9%) or always (+3%) stressed;
  • there is a difference between academic staff and Professional Services staff responses, both in terms of how staff feel about their workload and the extent to which they engage in wellbeing support. Academics are less likely to engage with or be aware of support but are more likely to experience stress.

There is clearly further work for us to do in this space, and the findings of the survey will be considered by University Executive Board and others over the coming weeks. Initial Faculty and Divisional Data packs will be shared by 30 November to support local discussion and planning while we continue to review the additional comments staff provided in the survey. The summary findings and the follow-up action plan will also be available to all colleagues on the Staff Survey site once the analysis is complete.

Light at the end of the tunnel 

It’s a phenomenal achievement of the global scientific community that there are now three (and, potentially, soon four) safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon. We can all be particularly proud of our colleagues in the COVID-19 Emergency Research Group (UNCOVER) for their considerable and ongoing contribution to understanding the virus and supporting the development of these vaccines (including the University’s role as one of the biggest recruiters to the Oxford vaccine trials).

Thanks to these extraordinary efforts, the world now has a promising path out of the pandemic. However, while we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, there remains some way to go before we see the end of the pandemic. In the meantime, we will continue to listen to feedback, take evidence-informed decisions and be guided by our institutional risk assessment framework.

Stay safe and thank you again for all your hard work.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: an update

2020 has been a year like no other. Yet, despite the huge challenges and disruption caused by the pandemic, we’ve not lost sight of our overriding strategy goals; particularly our commitment to eradicate all forms of inequality from our community.

With this in mind, I wanted to share a brief update on our recent gender equality work and report some positive new developments.

Ongoing progress and new challenges

As COVID-19 continues to dominate the higher education landscape, we’ve been concerned about the growing evidence that it is having a disproportionate impact on women, ethnic minorities, and those with caring responsibilities. This month saw the first meeting of a new task-and-finish group made up of senior academics from across the faculties to examine the growing data on the impact of the pandemic on these groups, and to make recommendations regarding actions that might be needed to ensure that this year’s academic promotion round takes these issues into account.

Elsewhere, I’m very pleased to say that, despite the considerable difficulties posed since March, we were able to complete the second Female Leadership Initiative (FLi) programme in July. This was again highly successful, attracting over 90 applicants. We held a final session in September when we were joined by the Aurora cohort to discuss inclusive leadership. Two major themes that emerged were developing self-awareness about one’s identity and purpose in a leadership role, and the importance – never more so than now – of creating supportive networks.

Given this, it is especially pleasing to note that the Bristol Women’s Mentoring Network has continued throughout this year, with over 80 active mentees and 76 mentors. Most of these mentors are current University staff, but several Emeritus Professors and alumni have also volunteered their time.  I am grateful to everyone who has given their time in this way.

This second round of the Mentoring Network has been very positively received, with a midway evaluation indicating that over 95% of respondents were finding the mentoring helpful, and more than 85% were making progress despite the challenges raised by the pandemic. Among the many positive comments were these thoughts from a mentee:

“I took so much out of the experience, the way our sessions were structured and how much time and effort they put into preparing and reviewing the ‘homework’ that was provided between meetings. I definitely feel more aware of my strengths and motivations and prepared for my next steps.”

The third mentoring programme will start in March 2021, and information on how to apply will be available from the beginning of December.  Do look out for this if you think you might benefit from mentoring or be willing to act as a mentor.  I have certainly found being a mentor very rewarding.

Elevate: raising our sights

I’m also delighted that we are leading the GW4 pilot of the Elevate programme, which offers new opportunities for Professional Services and academic staff from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background who identify as female to meet, share, support and learn together across the four GW4 universities (Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and Bath).

The programme, which launches in January, focuses on individuals with management and leadership potential but is very much more than a traditional CPD programme: it creates room for the history, culture and diverse lived experience of its participants, and will encourage them to reflect, explore and grow through connecting and building solidarity together. Participants will be able to co-create the content of the programme, so that it’s as relevant and meaningful to them as possible.

Tackling domestic abuse and gender-based violence

I am conscious that during the festive season there is often a spike in reports of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.  Avon and Somerset police advise that there is concern that COVID-19 and its impact on unemployment, financial difficulties and the possibility of not being able to see family at Christmas could result in an increase in tensions and all types of abuse within the home.

Given this, I would encourage you to support the Public Health England ‘16 Days of Activism’ campaign against gender-based violence, which runs from 25 November to 10 December. You can help by knowing the signs of domestic abuse and how to support colleagues who you suspect are in an abusive relationship. You can also read our institutional policy statement on gender-based violence and abuse here.

Finally

While COVID-19 continues to represent a huge challenge for us all, the University stands firm in our commitment to build a diverse and inclusive University community. There remains much to do, as set out in our EDI Delivery Plan, but the clear progress we’re making, despite the pandemic, has been heartening to see. I look forward to updating you on further progress in the coming months.

 

Celebrating Black History Month

Black History Month 2020 provides an important and timely opportunity to explore Black history, to reflect on and celebrate the contribution of Black and Black heritage staff and students to our University, and to discuss ways in which we can deliver our shared commitment to addressing structural and cultural racism.

Bristol-based historian David Olusoga recently reflected that: ‘The summer of 2020 was one of those moments when it felt as if history’s fast-forward button had been pressed and the pace of historical events suddenly accelerated.”  Situated in the city that was at the heart of many of these events, we hope that our Black History Month celebrations and explorations will “be infused with the spirit of this remarkable year” in which many people have engaged with ideas of race and racism as never before.

Having created a University Anti-Racism Steering Group this summer, I have been proud to see us launch a range of initiatives to both promote Black History and help bring about positive change.

One of these initiatives was the launch last week of a landmark new £1,000,000 Bristol Black Scholarships Programme.  Access to higher education is one of the most powerful ways to foster social mobility and enable individuals to realise their life ambitions. Yet we know that Black and Black-heritage students have historically been under-represented at every level of study in higher education across the UK. We have been working to address this for some time through a range of targeted initiatives, but we want to go further to improve the diversity of our student population. This ambitious new initiative marks an important step in our work to address the historical under-representation of Black and Black-heritage students and make our University truly inclusive.  I am very grateful for the generous support of our alumni and friends who have contributed to its development.

Other important initiatives aim to address the effects of Britain’s colonial past on our institution. Earlier this year we committed to reviewing the names of buildings named after families with links to the slave trade.  I’m pleased that, as the first formal outcome of this work, we have renamed our Colston Street accommodation as ‘No.33’.  Research is also underway, led by Professor Olivette Otele, to inform our review of the names of other University buildings.

Professor Otele was also recently appointed as the Independent Chair of Bristol’s Commission on Race Equality (CORE) by the Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees. CORE will work to address experiences of inequality often experienced by Bristol’s BAME communities in areas such as education, employment, health, housing and criminal justice. I’m delighted that Dr Jane Khawaja and Dr Marie-Annick Gournet have also been appointed as Commissioners to support CORE’s work tackling structural inequalities across our city.

It is great to see a wealth of university-wide activities underway to decolonise our curriculum.  Bristol Institute of Learning and Teaching (BILT) have established a learning community to support this important work across our academic programmes.  In an exciting initiative, we have worked in partnership with CARGO (Charting African Resilience Generating Opportunities – a Bristol collective of artists, poets and filmmakers) to create UniversalCity – a digital platform to showcase African and African Diaspora-owned businesses and community organisations in Bristol, explore the heritage and history of key points of interest around our city, and encourage students and staff to join in voluntary work to support local communities.  It is really heartening that we have worked so productively with CARGO to open up new possibilities for socially-engaged inclusive education.  I am hopeful that this will foster deeper links with diverse communities across the city.

As part of this ongoing discussion, I look forward to chairing a virtual panel event, ‘Towards a decolonised University’, on 22 October. This public online event will explore the importance of critical engagement with the ways in which the knowledge and resources we encounter at university is shaped by the impact of colonial power structures, and how do we create solutions which addresses racism and colonial legacy in our university. You can find out more and register for the event here.

The student BME Network and SU events team has also organised an excellent programme of online events throughout October, so do take a look at what’s coming up.

Elsewhere, to celebrate the first anniversary of our Be More Empowered for Success programme, the University will be unveiling our new Be More Empowered for Success portraits. These compelling new portraits celebrate our staff and students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and will be on public display in the Reception Room of the Wills Memorial Building from 23 October.

There are many more initiatives underway throughout October. These both complement and build on our existing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion workstreams.

I hope that you will join us at some of this year’s Black History Month events – to celebrate the diversity of our community, reflect on our institutional history and reaffirm our commitment to building an open and inclusive community.

Thank you to everyone who is helping us develop these initiatives. I look forward to updating you on further progress in the coming months.

The Palm Temple – a beautiful new installation with a poignant message

The University of Bristol has been actively involved in addressing environmental and sustainability issues for many years.

I’m proud that we’ve made considerable progress at an institutional level including the provision of clean energy, the introduction of more responsible consumption practices, a significant reduction in carbon emissions (even pre-COVID), as well as wider progress across a host of other key areas aligned to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We are also taking active steps to improve biodiversity across all 1,000 acres of our estate. For example, the Life Sciences Building, one of several buildings designed to foster biodiversity, has a ‘living wall’ along with two sedum roofs and bat and bird roosts. We have also received a ‘Bees Need’ champion award for the contribution of our meadows to bees and pollinating insects, and we are now committed to becoming a Hedgehog Friendly Campus as part of a national accreditation scheme funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

I am particularly proud that we were the first UK University to declare a climate emergency last year, reaffirming our strong commitment to act on climate change.

Sustainability must be rooted in all that we do – from our world-leading research, our teaching, and the way we operate as an institution – the concept underpins our aspirations to be a global civic university. We also want to use our position to raise awareness of sustainability and the climate emergency by other means, including through our art, our public engagement, and our presence in the City.

To that end, I’m delighted that internationally renowned Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram this week very generously donated his latest installation, ‘The Palm Temple’, to our University.

Luke Jerram's The Palm Temple

Many of you will be familiar with Luke’s past work including his ‘Museum of the Moon‘ installation; his ‘Park and Slide’ project, in which he turned Park Street into a giant water slide for one day; the ‘Impossible Garden‘ exhibition at our Botanic Garden; and ‘Gaia‘, which was hosted by the Cabot Institute for the Environment last year; and, of course, his street pianos installation ‘Play Me, I’m Yours‘, which has been presented in over 60 cities and enjoyed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

The Palm Temple, which is now permanently located outside the School of Chemistry, was originally commissioned by Sky Arts in Italy as a celebration of the 600th anniversary of Brunelleschi’s dome of Florence Cathedral (Duomo di Firenze). It is based on a spiralling lamella dome structure cut in half, with the two halves placed in parallel, like two palms of each hand coming together in prayer. However, while Florence Cathedral is a temple for contemplating God, this new artwork is designed for contemplating nature.

The Palm Temple outside the School of Chemistry

Made of cedar wood and dichroic panelled windows (a reference to the stained-glass windows of its Duomo di Firenze inspiration) The Palm Temple’s floor is mirrored to reflect the dome above, providing a surreal and spectacular experience from multiple vantage points.

Suspended in the apex of the dome is an ‘Extinction Bell’, which tolls once, 150 to 200 times a day, at random intervals, every 24 hours (a representation of the number of species lost every day according to a 2007 UN Environmental Programme). This provides us all with a poignant reminder of biodiversity loss and the impact of human activity on natural habitats around the world.

It is a real joy for us to accept this generous donation from Luke and the piece resonates so well with the shared values and research of colleagues and students across our University, and our City. In particular, its theme reflects the work of a number of our colleagues, including research by the Cabot Institute and the Urban Pollinators Project which is studying insect pollinators in urban habitats in the UK.

Professor Squires inside The Palm Temple

The Palm Temple is a truly remarkable and aesthetically beautiful work of art. Alongside our teaching, research and wider civic activities, I hope it helps engage different audiences across our City on the importance of sustainability – a public art installation for students, staff and the public to explore, reflect on and enjoy.