Dr Akira O’Connor
“I am a memory researcher in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience. My research has focused on how we make sense of our memories, especially when we are faced with conflicting information e.g. if we feel like something is familiar but we know it shouldn’t be – a sensation we typically refer to as deja vu.
“Separate from this though, over the past couple of years I have written and published a cook Colonised Minds with Erin Robbins, also in my department. This book focuses much more on the bigger picture of how psychology as a discipline is spoken about and taught. Erin and I teach a final-year undergraduate module exploring the themes in the book.
“In late 2021, the University advertised for someone to lead an institutional bid for a Race Equality Charter bronze award. I applied and was appointed to the role in early 2022. In the early stages, the role required me to recruit a team of people to contribute to the work, and negotiate ways in which the work could be done alongside people’s day jobs.
“Once these ways of working were established, I transitioned to coordinating activity across a four REC working groups, and gathering together data that would be useful in helping us understand the state of race equality at St Andrews.
“The final stages of the Charter application process involved analysing and understanding the data we have gathered, and working together with a team of people, including Dharini Balasubramaniam of the School of Computer Science, and Vice Principal People & Diversity Rebekah Widdowfield, to write the application.
“The Race Equality Charter, or REC, is a framework for advancing race equality within UK higher education. It is administered by AdvanceHE, the same organisation that administers the Athena Swan charter for gender equality.
“Unlike the Athena Swan charter, the REC is not open to departmental applicants, meaning that only institutions can apply for the award. Another difference is that Athena Swan has three levels, bronze, silver and gold whereas the REC currently has only two levels, bronze and silver.
“This last difference speaks to its relatively recent introduction, and also the extent to which all UK institutions have work to do on race equality before they can even contemplate gold level awards.
“Charters like the REC give universities the opportunity to engage with the processes of understanding and dealing with inequalities they identify. In undertaking the work needed for the REC application, we have established new ways of listening to staff and students, and we will change our procedures and our culture in response to what we have heard.
“We have drawn on people’s leadership, expertise and ideas to put in place plans to deal with race equality problems like the under-representation of people of colour in our student and staff bodies, the ethnicity attainment gap, and need for greater diversity in our leadership teams.
“I have been keen to undertake REC work in a way that breaks from established ways of doing things, for example giving REC leadership roles to people who have not yet attained leadership positions within the university hierarchy, but who are proven leaders in other domains. It has been invigorating to see the team thrive with this responsibility.
“We submitted our REC application at the end of July. It was evaluated by a panel of HE professionals from across the UK and we received the bronze award in early October.
“Now that we have the award, we are putting together up an implementation team to make a start on delivering the Action Plan for the next five years. Everyone within the REC team has always understood that a REC award is not the culmination of our work, but the beginning of it.
“Even if the REC did not exist, I believe St Andrews would have undertaken this programme of work because it was needed, and because it is the right thing to do.
“Getting involved in the Staff BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Network was the first step in my race equality journey St Andrews. We meet regularly to share our experiences and support each other.
“It’s a really welcoming environment whether you’ve been at St Andrews for years, or are just starting your time here. If this sounds like something you could be interested in, do find out more and come along!”
To join the Staff BAME Network mailing list, please email the central University EDI Team: [email protected]
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