Let's Talk Staff Networks Episode 1
Let’s Talk Staff Networks – Episode One
Hosted by Stephanie Danson
Guests include:
• Banji Adewumi
• Emma Shiels
• Lin Ma
• Megan Johnston
• Matt Sanderson
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STEPH: Hi everyone and welcome to the next instalment of the Let's Talk series.
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This one's about the Staff Networks.
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The aim of the Let's Talk series is to get everyone talking about a broad range of EDI topics.
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So this session we're focusing on Staff Networks because the 8th of May is National Day for Staff Networks
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and today we're having a chat with
the co-chairs of the Women at Manchester Staff Network
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and the All Out Staff Network to spotlight
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about how they support staff and contribute to the wider university community.
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The EDI Directorate often consults the Staff Networks to complete surveys or comment on matters related
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to policies and practices and each network holds events related to their equality group throughout
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the year. So if everybody would like to introduce themselves, so I'm Steph Danson, EDI Project Officer
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in the EDI Directorate and if we go for who's first on my screen, so Banji.
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BANJI: Hello everyone, my name's Banji Adewumi, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
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STEPH: And Matt?
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MATT: Good afternoon everybody, my name's Matt, I am a PGR and one of the co-chairs of All Out.
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STEPH: Emma?
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EMMA: Hi I'm Emma, I'm a Teaching, Learning, Student Experience Coordinator and I'm one of the co-chairs for the Women at Manchester Staff Network.
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STEPH: Megan?
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MEGAN: Hi I'm Megan,
I'm a Reading List Assistant at the Library and I'm one of the All Out co-chairs.
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STEPH: And last but not least, Lin.
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LIN: Hi my name's Lin, I'm a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, I'm the Academic co-chair of the
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Women at Manchester Staff Network.
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STEPH: Brilliant, welcome everyone. So I'm going to ask you all some questions and my first question is for Banji.
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So from an EDI perspective, why are staff networks important?
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BANJI: Yeah thank you very much Steph and I also seize this opportunity
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to thank Megan, Matt, Lyn and Emma and of course other co-chairs of the staff network groups at
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Manchester. Over my, well I would say 30 years but longer, years in public service,
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I've had the privilege of being part of staff networks and I do know at least some of the benefits which I'm
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going to share briefly this afternoon. One is voice and may I add another word to it, amplifying voice.
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How are networks, especially at Manchester, very proactive, engaging with colleagues across
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whether professional services or academic, getting people's views and as Steph said in the
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introduction, we do consult through the staff networks and being able to hear what staff are
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saying or their concerns is quite critical.
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And last so that I don't take up too much of the time,
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in terms of co-creation there's lots that could be done behind the scenes without involving
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the people concerned and I'm really pleased and proud in terms of how the networks, including
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those not on this platform at the moment, have been very critical or crucial in how we co-design
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intervention, how we improve on our policies and practices to ensure that indeed we are inclusive
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as an organisation. I'll pause there, thank you.
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STEPH: Thank you Banji and the next question is open to everyone.
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So when did you first get involved with the staff networks and why?
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MEGAN: I'm happy to go, oh no go on Lynn you go.
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LIN: Sorry I just had my hands up. Yeah I would like to talk about my
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experience getting involved in Women in Manchester. I think from probably last year I saw an email
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like security in the staff net, sorry staff email like this and saying Women in Manchester
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and when I see these topics it looks very interesting.
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I was like curious what is this and a click into this
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and getting a lot of information seeing so many like event happenings and the world of women
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and very interesting stuff and so I'm thinking oh that is something
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I definitely wanted to draw so that is my story of drawing Women in Manchester.
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STEPH: That's brilliant, Megan?
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MEGAN: So I joined All Out in oh gosh it was December 2022 I think, yeah so it's the end.
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I've been chair of the network, well co-chair of the network just over a year. I started out
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with two other co-chairs who've since left the role and now I'm co-chairing with Matt which is
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great. It's only been a few months but yeah I feel like we've made a good team so far.
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I was first drawn to the staff network because I was at a time actually where I was sort of exploring my
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own identity and sexuality a bit more and sort of wanted to get more involved in that in a
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professional environment as well and sort of see yeah what I could do in that regard if that makes
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sense yeah.
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STEPH: Great and Emma?
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EMMA: Yeah so just to touch on what Lin said as well
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So I also got involved with Women in Manchester because of this wall of women that she mentioned
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and so just to recap what that was so Women in Manchester arranged a professional photographer,
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I believe her name was Jill Jennings to take professional headshots of women and compile this in a wall of women for International Women's Day
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and it was just to celebrate the uniqueness and diversity of the women who work here.
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I hadn't really heard of staff networks before this and I also hadn't had a professional picture taken of me since I was at school
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so it was a nice incentive for me to actually come to an event
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and I remember just thinking it was just wonderful and it gave me so much confidence
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and it just made me feel valued and the professional headshot that they took
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you got to use for yourself afterwards so I use this professional picture on absolutely every professional platform that I have
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but I've changed my hair multiple times since then so I don't quite look exactly like that anymore
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but yeah so after that I just wanted to get more involved with the network
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and so I put myself forward to help in any way possible
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and so me and Lin have been doing this now for just under a year I think a couple of months so
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and I think we've worked well so far together as well.
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STEPH: Amazing yeah I remember that wall of women as well and Matt?
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MATT: Thanks yeah I joined the all-out LGBT staff network I think about two and a half months ago and I joined
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because the call went out for a PGR person to join as chair and I noticed that there wasn't
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a great deal of traction for anyone else I thought well we can't really miss this chance because
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PGRs are embedded right across the university in all sorts of things but in many ways
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betwixt and between neither academics nor staff nor students if you will we're kind of there in
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the middle and we're we often feel a bit left over and passed by and I've long been thinking that
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it's probably one of the most mobile international communities that we have at the
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university is that PGRs coming from all over the world staying here for two or
three years and
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moving on and people are coming from all sorts of different cultures all sorts of different
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backgrounds and they're arriving in Manchester which is in all in all reality a quite tolerant
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safe and open city and it's a place where you can be yourself you can arrive in Manchester and you
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can be who you know yourself to be so I thought you know we really need to get that message out to
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PGRs and that's something I wanted to do so when the opportunity came I took it.
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STEPH: That's brilliant insight definitely and following on from that after you've been involved with the staff networks
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what what made you what drew you to becoming a co-chair?
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MATT: As I said the call went
to have PGR co-chairs and the call was answered by silence and when nobody else stepped up I thought somebody
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needs to. I'm not doing a great deal at the moment because I'm on an academic interruption
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because of disability issues so let me use what strength I have to support people who I can help.
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STEPH: It's brilliant and Emma?
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So I spoke a bit about the wall of women there but I also after Adele McKinley and she was the previous director of people in OD I believe she's quite she's very
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missed in the network and then we had a really interesting meeting where she told me about the
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network so far and that even though there are thousands of women at the university there's
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there's not there's not there's not that much interest really and there's less than I think
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there was about 250 people in the network at the time so she just genuinely asked me like how can
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we promote this network and so I offered my own services up in administration event organisation
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and I also talked about my passion so I have a passion about football I went to the women's euro
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final in 2022 at Wembley and that was amazing. I have a legal background and also I spoke to her
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about my personal experiences in life and my life as a young woman in Manchester and everything just
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started clicking and so we've been in post for the past few months and I think myself and Lin
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quite complement each other as well in terms of being co-chairs because we are at different
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levels of the university in terms of like different life experiences and I think that
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that's a really good thing to have in co-chairs as well so yeah.
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Lin, did you want to follow on from that?
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LIN: Yeah as Emma said we have quite different experience so my experience becomes a co-chair
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I think it starts from my some of my personal experience and because I had two maternity leaves
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and like which associated with two pregnancies and two you know breastfeeding period
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so I feel quite challenging myself to balance some of the life personal life
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and academic life because normally you know after PhD studies will be the golden age period
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to bring to build your own research career but I took time for maternity leave which I struggled a little bit to
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like balance everything and then just back from the second maternity leave is COVID
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and my my kids were so young so I personally having so many challenges myself as a female
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because this problem or this kind of issue we can all learn having like as a women man doesn't really
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well man have some issues but not like as significant as us so after this I joined this
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network I was thinking oh there is something I should I'm happy to offer to do like if we can
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build this kind of environment facilitate this kind of platform and can people are having some
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peer support and all kind having some experience from other people or just getting our voice
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being heard by the leadership team or something like this so I'm thinking this is one very good
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thing we can offer to help like you know in the staff network environment which can help
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probably more people like getting support from each other so that is how I joined.
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STEPH: Thank you. Banji did you want to reflect on that as well?
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BANJI: Yeah I wanted to reflect on it that's the right word more in terms of of course appreciating that some colleagues will be listening to this
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recording later on as in the benefits of becoming or putting oneself forward to become a co-chair
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I've listened to a number of colleagues over the years who've talked about the
skills
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they've not only been able to develop but even discover as they've stepped into the role of co-chair
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and even also the opportunities to meet with different colleagues and get to know other
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areas of the organization that they're working for so I just thought I should share that as well.
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STEPH: And Megan?
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MEGAN: I just wanted to add so I think this has sort of been mentioned by Emma as well
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that not really knowing that the staff network was there or sort of knowing it was there
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but not really knowing how best to engage with it and get involved
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and I, sort of in a similar way actually as your conversation with Adele McKinlay
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kind of started speaking to Paul Mark Jones via email and kind of fell into the chair role a little bit.
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He just sort of said oh you know we're looking for a new co-chair actually are you interested
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and it just yeah sort of kind of went from there really.
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But it's something that drew me I think to the role was the fact that I I guess knew this network was there
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but didn't know what it could do for me or how I could get involved
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and I think I sort of know colleagues now actually who are members of the network
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or would be but don't necessarily think it's for them so that's something
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actually Matt and I were just discussing before we started the call
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about how we can sort of really see what it is that they want. Yeah we're very grateful to have you all as co-chairs and from my perspective as well I see all the work that that you put into it and we try and balance out the professional services
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and academic staff as well so that we you know you've got complementing co-chairs who know more know bits about different areas of the university
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STEPH: so yes it's great to have you all and the next questions around who can join
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and how can people get involved in the networks Emma?
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EMMA: Yes so I think there's like two parts of this question aren't they like who can join and then also how can you get involved I'll answer
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both I think Lin has a bit swad about the first question as well but what I'll say is that Women
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of Manchester is open to all colleagues who are women from across all parts of the university
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and in all roles and we want to let everyone know that we are committed to non-binary and
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trans inclusion and welcome contributions from all women across the university we want to work
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together and make this space really inclusive for everyone and we do get the question are men
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welcome in the network and we have had feedback that women aren't satisfied with the level of
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allyship at the university from men and we want more men to listen to us and
sometimes we feel
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a bit like an echo chamber where we all understand what the issues are but we're all just speaking
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to each other and thus what gets done but we also do want to create an inclusive space for women
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and respect our members privacy and safety so we've recently put out a feedback survey and
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we'll also be adding an open suggestion box that people can add to anytime to see how best we can
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go about respecting and validating what our members actually want and to answer the second
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question of how can people get involved in the network so you're kind of reaching us at a period
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transition here and i almost want to say watch this space and check back in a few weeks
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and so at that point all the communications will have gone out and this what what I say next will
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make more sense but I usually don't really like jumping the gun and announcing things
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before they've happened but I feel like we'll just give a bit of a preview as to
what we're
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working on and how you can get involved so we're currently forming a committee with offices and
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project managers to complement the existing behind the scenes volunteers which are myself
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so myself and Lin were I don't want to say struggling but we were a bit
overwhelmed running
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a successful network with with nearly 600 people so it's doubled in size in the past year so we're
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looking at how can people get involved in a meaningful way and how can we
accommodate that
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so we felt like we were stretched a bit thin and so hopefully this committee
means that we can
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deliver on lots of action points in the feedback so our members will feel more involved and like
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they have a direct impact and we want women to feel a sense of community and have safe spaces
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so i was speaking to one of our new project managers and she said that she would love for
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to be a place where if you if you're new at Manchester we are the community that welcomes
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them so women can get involved by attending our social events be part of our general meetings
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come to our monthly events such as our recent fireside chat with Jackie Carter and Helen Pankhurst
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you can contribute to our newsletters so if you have any interests about women and girls in
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Manchester please ask to submit an article to our newsletter or pop them in the team space to spark
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a discussion so if you have an item you want to add to our agenda for our next general meeting
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please email us us at women'snetwork@manchester.ac.uk if you want to present your
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own research as well or you want to see someone or you have a topic you're interested in please
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also get in touch so to complement the existing survey that we put out we'll also be posting a
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suggestion box so people can add to that and this next year we want to highlight internal talent
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and researchers which we find that people are most interested in so also if you want to get involved
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by sort of promoting a group or a network that you want to present our next general meeting so
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for example if you have a book club or a hiking club or anything like that please get in touch
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and you're welcome to present that at our meetings and so we're just reviewing that
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network survey that we put out and but we hope to go into the next academic year with a clear action
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plan for how our network can be influential but also a safe space for women and we will clearly
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communicate this to all the net the whole network via teams and less very soon in the form of like
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relaunching newsletter and you'll get to meet our new committee and see the upcoming inclusive
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events and we appreciate everyone's patience with this and also if you want to get involved
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staff network day is coming up on the 8th of May and we'll have a stall so please feel free to pop
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around and we're happy to have a chat.
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STEPH: Awesome thanks Emma. I don't know if Lin you wanted to reflect on that before I head to Matt is that okay Matt?
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LIN: Thank you for that I just wanted to a little bit comments because Emma has already talked about so many things and how we can people
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are getting involved I just wanted to flag another thing because Emma talked about
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allyship I think that this can be something very important as well so although our network itself
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is open to all the women staff who identify themselves as women but we do welcome like men
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staff like male staff who want to support women but we're probably we are currently discussing
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options on how we can do this for example we may have a sub channel or like a separate channel
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and for people for male staff or something who wanted to support the women work or something
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like this and so even if you are in the university if you are not a women but you want to start it
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support us I think it will be something we will welcome to everyone to join as
well.
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Thank you.
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STEPH: Thank you Lin and Matt?
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MATT: Anybody can join all out whether you think you are a member of the community
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or you think you might be a member of the community or you're not sure
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or if you want to be an ally of the community or you want to support somebody who is a member
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of the community who or who might think they are a member of the community and by that that
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I mean people joke about it as the alphabet community and I don't think we've got quite
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every letter yet I haven't heard one for Zed but yes we're there for you and you are welcome to
0:20:24.730,0:20:32.630
join. If you want to join send an email to lgbt at manchester.ac.uk and get in touch
0:20:33.490,0:20:40.670
and as for what you then do or how you can join you can join one of our mailing lists
0:20:40.670,0:20:45.550
you can join one of our anonymous mailing lists if you actually want to find out more
0:20:45.550,0:20:52.790
and to support us quietly but you want to keep yourself to yourself you can come on and take
0:20:52.790,0:20:58.910
part in meetings you can hear about it afterwards there's many many different ways people can join
0:20:59.470,0:21:08.070
and I think probably different to any other staff network all out does maintain that level of
0:21:08.070,0:21:13.950
anonymity because not everybody wants to bring their sexuality to work not everybody wants to
0:21:13.950,0:21:19.610
be out to their colleagues and I can understand that and I respect that it's entirely up to you
0:21:19.610,0:21:27.290
we don't all have to be forced you know we don't all have to wear a rainbow on our lanyard or on
0:21:27.290,0:21:33.090
our sleeves or whatever we don't all have to shout we don't have to be all out some of us are very
0:21:33.090,0:21:39.570
happy being all on the sidelines so yeah if you want to join you can and we have many ways you
0:21:39.570,0:21:45.150
can join and many ways that you can either sit on the sidelines and listen or be an active member
0:21:47.870,0:21:51.950
STEPH: that's brilliant I think that's a really important point that the staff networks are for
0:21:52.590,0:21:57.090
sharing information as well and you don't have to go to every event and do everything but being
0:21:57.090,0:22:04.670
part of it is is really important thank you for that so the next questions around what the
0:22:04.670,0:22:09.570
challenges have been in co-chairing the networks and how you've overcome them
0:22:11.590,0:22:13.630
MEGAN: I'm happy to go first on this one
0:22:15.910,0:22:26.830
challenges I think have been trying to balance it with a full-time job at the university as well
0:22:26.830,0:22:34.390
and sort of actually this year I've sort of started actually blocking time out in my calendar for
0:22:35.290,0:22:40.550
all out things whether that's just replying for emails or thinking oh yeah there was that
0:22:40.550,0:22:44.850
you know thing I was going to try and organise or you know I'll sort of you know make some time to
0:22:44.850,0:22:49.170
look into that just every week having a little a little bit of time blocked out my calendar
0:22:50.230,0:22:57.050
yeah to make sure that I can do some some all-out work as well as work work
0:22:57.050,0:23:01.050
um I think
0:23:03.610,0:23:10.690
I mean I think with the like the previous co-chairs um it I think we all sort of had
0:23:10.690,0:23:17.530
different expectations of what um we you know what we wanted and what we could commit to
0:23:18.410,0:23:23.710
the network as well and we we only meet four times a year so I think sometimes it probably
0:23:23.710,0:23:31.580
feels like there's yeah you don't always see the fruits of your labour necessarily um but
0:23:31.580,0:23:38.900
yes I think um yeah that that can definitely be a challenge yeah um I'm not sure if there's
0:23:38.900,0:23:41.824
anything else I want to add um yeah
0:23:41.824,0:23:45.750
STEPH: okay thank you and Lin did you want to go next
0:23:46.660,0:23:52.340
LIN: yeah we'll go next I share the same challenges Megan just mentioned because the time management
0:23:52.340,0:23:58.040
is something we are really struggling with it as well and because if we want to we have so many
0:23:58.040,0:24:05.180
ideas we want to make the networks better so we're having so many like uh plans action plans for the
0:24:05.180,0:24:10.240
next step just spending time to like dedicate to each of the work is something we are challenging
0:24:10.240,0:24:20.000
very challenging but we are working on different options for example Emma has mentioned we have a
0:24:20.000,0:24:26.000
time to then hopefully we can share some work out together and I think for our network particularly
0:24:26.000,0:24:30.860
we have a big challenge as Emma just mentioned a little bit as well because
previously we have 200
0:24:30.860,0:24:38.240
or something members but suddenly we grew up so quickly into like almost 600 which means all the
0:24:38.240,0:24:42.880
we're having so many people interested which is a great thing we are we are facing but
0:24:43.350,0:24:50.180
um then there is so many voices coming sometimes we feel like difficult to deal with everything
0:24:50.180,0:24:55.900
because we hope have every voice to be heard and every voice every uh opinions or something
0:24:55.900,0:25:02.600
can be dealt with or every single idea can be supported um but feel like um that you have
0:25:02.600,0:25:09.100
600 or something members something um the ideas collections and the influence or like deal with
0:25:09.100,0:25:14.720
everything can be quite challenging so we also have some action plans on these ones and we hope
0:25:14.720,0:25:20.880
we can get things moving better and better yeah that's what I'm going to say.
0:25:20.880,0:25:22.730
STEPH: Thanks Lin.
0:25:23.730,0:25:25.664
Um Emma would you like to go next?
0:25:25.664,0:25:34.570
EMMA: Yeah of course I'm just going to reiterate what Lin said we're just currently suffering from success we've gone up to nearly 600 members and it's just too much
0:25:34.570,0:25:40.290
to deal with sometimes but exactly what she said time management so I'll address the like how to
0:25:40.290,0:25:45.130
overcome this and we're just trying to harness the power of the network and we reached out we
0:25:45.130,0:25:51.050
asked for help we said we have a plan how do how can we go forward with this and make sure everyone's
0:25:51.050,0:25:56.610
heard like Lin said um so yeah so women in the network who had the capacity to volunteer and
0:25:56.610,0:26:01.450
the skills have kindly given up their time and helped us get and got stuck in um and like Lin
0:26:01.450,0:26:04.470
said yeah there'll be more communication about this soon and we're just really excited to see
0:26:04.470,0:26:04.970
where we go.
0:26:04.970,0:26:10.070
STEPH: That's brilliant to hear and um Megan did you have something to add?
0:26:11.450,0:26:18.230
MEGAN: I was just going to add about um I think and Emma and Lin might be able to sort of um relate to
0:26:18.230,0:26:23.050
this as well sort of keeping momentum going I think when you have got such a big
group behind
0:26:23.050,0:26:28.330
you as well you sort of I think can sometimes have some big ideas in the meetings and then
0:26:28.330,0:26:34.510
it's about sort of seeing them through to fruition um but we recently had a really great um
0:26:35.430,0:26:42.410
LGBT history month um I say recently it was a couple of months ago now but um yeah um
0:26:42.410,0:26:46.090
that we are in lots of different events lots of different input from members about different
0:26:46.090,0:26:53.130
things they wanted to see um but then I think it's sort of keeping the ball rolling and
0:26:53.830,0:27:01.830
and also making sure that um we're not just here for sort of the big loud events like Pride every
0:27:01.830,0:27:08.850
year and actually sort of you know yeah making um other impacts as well throughout the year not
0:27:08.850,0:27:15.010
just you know sort of um every summer for instance um there was something else I was going to add
0:27:15.010,0:27:20.090
but I've forgotten what it is now so I'll happily happily pass back to um to Emma.
0:27:22.940,0:27:26.240
STEPH: Emma did you still have your hand up or is that a legacy hand?
0:27:29.010,0:27:31.450
EMMA: It was indeed a legacy hand I do apologise.
0:27:34.290,0:27:34.790
STEPH: Banji?
0:27:34.790,0:27:37.746
BANJI: Yeah just on that point of um challenges
0:27:37.746,0:27:42.519
and it was very helpful just listening to colleagues share their experience
0:27:42.519,0:27:48.557
and I'm sure it would be similar to what others would say I just wanted to highlight how um
0:27:48.557,0:27:58.712
it's in listening to our colleagues like yourselves that we would hopefully be able to design the support intervention where required
0:27:58.712,0:28:05.128
So for instance we have reached out to the organisation that actually set up staff network day
0:28:05.128,0:28:12.464
and again I think it was Emma who was saying not wanting to talk about what's not been done yet
0:28:12.464,0:28:17.727
but we're planning to have a development session for all co-chairs in July
0:28:17.727,0:28:25.930
I believe the date will be communicated to all the co-chairs and we'd also welcome your views as to how we could support you.
0:28:25.930,0:28:34.330
So for instance we've heard from some colleagues that they will benefit from having a mentor or a coach and how can we formalise
0:28:34.910,0:28:41.730
that support apart from of course giving sufficient time for you to be able to carry out this role
0:28:41.730,0:28:47.030
and if Jackie Carter were on the call I'm sure she would remind me to say this
0:28:47.850,0:28:53.670
we want to say thank you because using the word volunteers, volunteers sometimes we might not
0:28:53.670,0:29:02.890
necessarily also show our appreciation in terms of what commitment and sacrifice
may I add that
0:29:03.570,0:29:08.990
is required in carrying out this role so yes a big thank you for me and the team and as much as
0:29:08.990,0:29:14.350
possible carry on as you've rightly said reaching out for help because I'm sure
there are other
0:29:14.350,0:29:22.430
colleagues who in their own way big or small can help keep this work going thank you.
0:29:23.770,0:29:29.550
STEPH@ Definitely thank you Banji and I quite enjoy getting involved in the network's work as well
0:29:29.550,0:29:35.030
so I'm always on hand. So the next question is around successes so if anybody wanted to talk
0:29:35.030,0:29:40.490
about the main successes that you feel that you've had since you've been in as co-chairs in the
0:29:40.490,0:29:40.990
network. Emma?
0:29:40.990,0:29:47.771
Yeah of course so I feel like we've had like an overall quite a successful year this year.
0:29:47.771,0:29:58.790
So from the start of this academic year I think there was about 250 members in the team space and now we have nearly 600 people so we have more people than ever interested in
0:29:58.790,0:30:04.150
our network and our mission than ever before so I'll just do like a really brief run through
0:30:04.150,0:30:08.170
some of the events that we've had this year that have been successful so in September we had that
0:30:08.170,0:30:08.670
in conversation with the new co-chairs which was myself and Lin being interviewed.
0:30:08.670,0:30:17.070
In October we had Black History Month and we collaborated with the Women's Higher Education Network.
0:30:17.730,0:30:18.230
In November we had a seminar with Jill Ruberry on flexible working and gender equity.
0:30:18.230,0:30:30.390
In December we championed the Aurora Women's Leadership Program. In February myself and Lin met with
0:30:30.390,0:30:35.310
Brazilian researchers to speak about our different countries and higher education systems and how we
0:30:35.310,0:30:41.750
can collaborate. In March we had the webinar on gender-based violence in the family court system
0:30:41.750,0:30:48.430
by our own Dr Elizabeth Dalgano and we also had a data launch and learn with the EDI team and then
0:30:48.430,0:30:53.850
in April we had in conversation with Great Manchester for Women which was a fireside chat
0:30:53.850,0:31:01.370
with Jackie Carter and Helen Pankhurst and then to come on the 10th of May we are going to have
0:31:01.370,0:31:06.790
a maternity leave support session with Cathal Rogers and Elizabeth Faulkner and I'll leave
0:31:06.790,0:31:11.290
if you want to Lin. I'll leave the International Women's Day part to you if that's all right do
0:31:11.290,0:31:13.128
you want to talk about that?
0:31:13.128,0:31:18.681
LIN: Yeah okay I'm happy to talk about that so in addition from the other event Emma has mentioned
0:31:18.681,0:31:25.541
we're also having a very big celebration of International Women's Day on the 7th of March
0:31:25.541,0:31:32.576
we're having 147 tickets sold to the event additional to that we have 55 people joining online
0:31:32.576,0:31:36.372
so taking the overall attendance to nearly 200 in total
0:31:36.372,0:31:43.372
and also we have our president Nancy Rothwell giving her last talk to the women's network as a President and she will become the friend of the network after that
0:31:43.372,0:31:56.670
and also we have a Professor Rachel Cowen update on the AS in the summer is so will avoid we just avoided this year we are exciting
0:31:56.670,0:32:02.330
for that and also we're having a lot of like different kind of speakers and the
panel
0:32:02.330,0:32:08.770
panel discussions on different kind of issues or problems or like success force
0:32:09.650,0:32:16.610
regarding to women's and also we're having over 200 sorry 220 expressions of interest in
0:32:16.610,0:32:24.190
taking volunteer roles to help the whole network to grow up and also we send up some of the network
0:32:24.190,0:32:30.990
survey which has well responded now so we have still NSS data to announce all the results to
0:32:30.990,0:32:36.930
the staff network but we're having so many things ongoing at this period and also we have as
0:32:37.570,0:32:42.390
Emma mentioned a little bit we're having the newsletters and some communications a lot of things
0:32:42.910,0:32:44.522
happening this year.
0:32:44.522,0:32:50.730
STEPH: That's brilliant Megan do you want to come at it from an AllOut perspective?
0:32:51.590,0:32:56.870
MEGAN: Yeah sure I mean I probably won't be able to list our successes as eloquently as you both just did
0:32:58.030,0:33:05.190
but we've I think our meetings are probably one of our big successes because a lot of
0:33:05.190,0:33:08.630
chat is generated from this is what kind of goes back to what I was just saying about keeping
0:33:08.630,0:33:15.810
momentum going is sort of making sure okay this is you know clearly like a topic of interest
0:33:16.310,0:33:24.430
for many of our members then you know what can we do next who's sort of willing to get involved
0:33:24.430,0:33:27.051
with some next steps from that
0:33:27.051,0:33:34.051
and then I think adding sexuality to the pay gap report that came out recently was something that was brought up in in one of our meetings
0:33:34.051,0:33:50.250
I think Paul Mark Jones's ongoing work with sort of like repurposing but changing the toilet spaces
0:33:50.250,0:33:55.630
that are you know toilets and changing spaces on campus is something that
regularly comes up
0:33:55.630,0:34:02.910
in the meetings and it's you know another kind of like lots of small wins in a way that one
0:34:02.910,0:34:10.190
because you know sort of when we find out that you know different space is being updated and
0:34:10.190,0:34:17.730
yeah different works going on in that area I'm trying to think of some other successes now
0:34:17.730,0:34:27.010
So yeah I think as I say it's just sort of making sure that we're sort of always in touch with our
0:34:27.010,0:34:32.510
members and you know what it is that people want to see and the support that they want to receive
0:34:33.090,0:34:36.449
yeah for different events or initiatives.
0:34:36.449,0:34:42.142
STEPH: Did you want to say anything about the Pride celebrations as well
0:34:42.142,0:34:47.977
because I know that the All Out Network does a lot in relation to that.
0:34:47.977,0:34:54.449
MEGAN: Yes that's very probably all people think we're here for but and it's not it's not
0:34:54.449,0:35:00.934
but it is something big that a lot of people like to get involved with every year
0:35:00.934,0:35:08.143
so yeah so every year we well the last two years we've marched in the Manchester Pride Parade
0:35:08.143,0:35:13.151
with other higher education institutions from Greater Manchester
0:35:13.151,0:35:16.360
so yeah we split our entry basically with
0:35:17.040,0:35:23.576
Bolton, Manchester Met, Salford, the RNCM and University of Law.
0:35:23.576,0:35:31.000
This year as it's the bicentenary year we've decided we're going to march on our own so we're going to have sort of
0:35:31.000,0:35:36.640
that whole Pride entry will just be for our university so hopefully we can get
some more
0:35:36.640,0:35:42.940
people in the parade with us and potentially a vehicle of some description some kind of float
0:35:44.160,0:35:48.620
but yeah it's as I say it's something a lot of people sort of want to get involved with and not
0:35:48.620,0:35:52.900
just in the the kind of the fun side of the walking and everything a lot of people
0:35:55.480,0:36:00.000
really like gratefully put their you know their hat in the ring and say yep I can help you
0:36:00.000,0:36:05.620
organise that or I work in that particular area let me offer my expertise and you know even just
0:36:05.620,0:36:10.320
things like oh I know someone from Estates, I can ask them about you know what kind of vehicles
0:36:10.320,0:36:17.920
we've got or what kind of car parking we could use and things like that even yeah so as I say
0:36:17.920,0:36:24.780
we're yeah we're planning this year's parade entry we're also planning to have like a civic
0:36:24.780,0:36:31.360
engagement presence though in the so not just in the parade but over the whole weekend in the
0:36:32.400,0:36:38.280
I think they call it the Pride Village or the Festival Village so yeah and on Canal Street
0:36:38.280,0:36:43.480
we're going to hopefully be doing that as well so yeah I've been in touch with the social
0:36:43.480,0:36:50.100
responsibility team to see what kind of materials they could give us to to collaborate on with that
0:36:50.100,0:36:57.520
as well and so yeah we sort of use that as an opportunity to promote Manchester as a
0:36:57.520,0:37:05.560
a safe place for people who identify as LGBTQIA plus to work or study or research
0:37:07.220,0:37:12.300
STEPH: Yeah thanks Megan I've really loved being part of the network as well it's it's such an inclusive
0:37:12.300,0:37:15.876
place and it's made me feel very welcome anyway so
0:37:15.876,0:37:20.621
and then I guess what's the vision for the future of your networks,
0:37:20.621,0:37:31.952
how do you how do you see things evolving? Maybe a couple of points on on that Matt would you like to go first?
0:37:31.952,0:37:34.095
Oh you're on mute, excellent
0:37:34.095,0:37:34.595
MATT: Can you hear me now?
0:37:34.595,0:37:45.150
STEPH: I can yes
0:37:45.150,0:37:47.150
MATT: I had to mute for a moment or two because I didn't want you to hear
0:37:47.150,0:37:47.986
didn't want you all hearing me suffering the last few minutes
0:37:47.986,0:37:53.920
but I'm back in the room now just to demonstrate how totally unscripted our answers are today
0:37:53.920,0:37:59.094
Megan and I haven't rehearsed this and this is very definitely my vision
0:37:59.094,0:38:05.156
rather than our vision and my vision stems from something that I read last year which really resonated
0:38:05.156,0:38:10.416
and I'll if you don't mind I'll share it with everybody on the call just now,
0:38:10.416,0:38:16.322
Pride is important because somewhere out there is a confused teenager or young person
0:38:16.322,0:38:22.090
who still thinks that maybe being dead is better than being gay and that's not okay.
0:38:23.490,0:38:30.730
So for me I want to take forward just the idea that Manchester is and I've said it before
0:38:31.390,0:38:39.710
Manchester is a safe place to be yourself so whoever you are you come to Manchester we want
0:38:39.710,0:38:45.730
to welcome you. Some people might want to embrace you, others might not swing that way but we want
0:38:45.730,0:38:52.850
to welcome you, we want to support you and we want you to be yourself and that's my vision for the
0:38:52.850,0:38:57.196
network. A network that supports people to be themselves.
0:38:57.196,0:39:02.330
STEPH: Thank you, Megan did you want to reflect on that before I head to Emma?
0:39:02.330,0:39:09.330
MEGAN: Yeah sure I was just going to say actually we didn't need to rehearse that because I do completely agree with what Matt's just said.
0:39:09.330,0:39:19.330
Yeah we do we do welcome everyone and yeah I think one thing we have sort of spoken about recently especially since Matt's
0:39:19.330,0:39:26.470
become a co-chair is actually I think one of our sort of visions for the near future is actually
0:39:26.470,0:39:32.510
changing the name of our network we sort of you know discussed this with members at our last
0:39:32.510,0:39:40.850
meeting and actually what does the word the word all out actually mean for us and our members
0:39:41.970,0:39:49.310
it was a name that was previously voted on by members but we felt that actually it's not
0:39:49.310,0:39:59.250
it doesn't really speak to everyone's experience of gender and sexuality in 2024 and as we've
0:39:59.250,0:40:08.110
already said we have a list of members who aren't visible to our visible members so it not everyone
0:40:08.110,0:40:15.390
is out and it is you know I think part of our manifesto statement on the EDI
website is about
0:40:15.390,0:40:24.010
welcoming people who are exploring and questioning their sexuality and identity and it's probably
0:40:24.010,0:40:30.630
not the right message to send out to you know come and join Allout that's
because it's not
0:40:30.630,0:40:37.450
a prerequisite for the network so yeah that's the big vision actually we've kind
of got going
0:40:37.450,0:40:43.310
forward at the moment yeah so watch this space we'll have a rebrand at some point
0:40:44.450,0:40:48.210
STEPH: Yeah thanks Megan thank you for that and Emma did you want to add something?
0:40:48.830,0:40:53.970
EMMA: Yeah of course I just want to say that what a lovely thought to have from the Allout network
0:40:53.970,0:41:00.610
there and I think that myself and Lin almost share a similar sort of vision for the future in
0:41:00.610,0:41:07.030
terms of not a rebrand but like a relaunch almost where it makes more inclusive and that we work
0:41:07.030,0:41:12.770
towards solutions for the network and so we've myself and Lin have had quite a few meetings
0:41:12.770,0:41:16.830
about this in the past two weeks so this is why it almost sounds like we've got it drilled into
0:41:16.830,0:41:21.310
us what we're doing next like this is the step by step plan because we've had just so many meetings
0:41:21.310,0:41:26.470
about it but so the future vision that we have for the network is the network to be a safe space
0:41:26.470,0:41:31.650
and a community for all women at the university to feel like they have resources and support
0:41:32.250,0:41:37.550
we do have an actual action plan and I'll share a little bit you know without you know giving away
0:41:37.550,0:41:43.170
but we want to host monthly events different kinds of events that fulfill what people want
0:41:43.170,0:41:48.030
in the network so for example social events seminars general meetings we want safe spaces
0:41:48.030,0:41:53.970
to chat we're looking into possibly doing for example niche groups or subgroups for different
0:41:53.970,0:42:00.550
identities and networking sessions and career sessions and also for feedback to be addressed
0:42:00.550,0:42:07.530
in like meaningful ways and we want to be a force where we can take forward issues to senior staff
0:42:07.530,0:42:13.210
at the university and become like an influential force and we want to create a bank of legacy
0:42:13.210,0:42:18.750
resources for the network to access at any time and we want for example we've had some feedback
0:42:18.750,0:42:23.710
there some some women might not understand for example maternity policies we want to make that
0:42:23.710,0:42:28.670
this more understandable and accessible for the women in our network and we're going to do semester
0:42:29.690,0:42:36.510
newsletters and we want these to be communicated well and also we want to maintain links and
0:42:36.510,0:42:41.210
collaboration for example with the different staff networks as well and we have reached out
0:42:41.210,0:42:46.630
to all of them and we want to collaborate and we want to basically put inclusivity and
0:42:46.630,0:42:51.230
intersectionality at the heart of our network and make sure that the diverse women in our network
0:42:51.230,0:42:57.750
feel like they're listened to and then there's a space for them and we want to also plan for
0:42:57.750,0:43:03.250
International Women's Day 2025 and make sure it's an opportunity to showcase internal talent and
0:43:03.250,0:43:06.092
intersectionality from within our network.
0:43:06.092,0:43:12.503
STEPH: Amazing there's been some really great answers today and Lin did you also want to reflect on that?
0:43:12.503,0:43:20.690
LIN: Yeah I just want to add a very
quick comments because I have mentioned so many exciting things we are organizing I just want to say
0:43:20.690,0:43:27.970
because we hope people do have fun in this network just getting all the journal can be very
0:43:27.970,0:43:34.610
journal so that is just the one thing I wanted to add in yeah. Thank you and Banji.
0:43:34.610,0:43:43.010
BANJI: Yeah and lastly for me I would want to say my vision for staff networks at the University of Manchester is that
0:43:43.010,0:43:49.860
they're all sector leading with others looking to Manchester for inspiration thank you all.
0:43:51.850,0:43:56.410
STEPH: Brilliant and did anybody have anything else that they'd like to say before we wrap up the
0:43:56.410,0:44:06.080
meeting? No there has been some great answers there and it's really wonderful to hear about
0:44:06.080,0:44:12.600
what you're all doing with the staff networks and thank you for being co-chairs and thank you for
0:44:12.600,0:44:18.620
being on this call as well and yeah it's brilliant so we'll leave that there and at the end of this
0:44:18.620,0:44:23.620
video we'll put up some information about how you can get in touch with the different staff networks
0:44:23.620,0:44:25.555
and and how you can join so thank you for listening
0:44:25.555,0:44:29.640
EMMA: thanks for organizing it as well.
