The aim of these discussions is to create awareness within the group on issues related, but not limited to DEI. We welcome any suggestions to continue these discussions and have difficult conversations to allow healthy introspection.
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We first start with a discussion as to why the Masters student's [Adam Lewis] stance was(is) problematic
- The language used by the Adam on the lines of "I always try to help, weak people and stand up for them, but Jane seemed to be strong enough to handle things..." is already problematic. This essentially suggets, that the problem only needs to be addressed when someone cannot deal with it.
- When to intervene, especially in academic (hierrarcial) systems is something we could discuss.
- Perhaps point out that we all must be aware and address any such viewpoints within our group
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In addition to the above example, conduct on the group chat is another point of discussion. [I am not sure what exactly is the context for this, perhaps Ken and Nadine have insights here]. This could the next point of discussion in the meeting.
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Coming back to the template for the upcoming discussion
- Start off the discussion with the the first bullet point mentioned above.
- Continue the discussion by leading into the "leaky pipeline"
- Introspect on our hiring practices?
- How can we locally make impacts? (Can we have an impact?)
- Briefly touch on other equally important challenges viz., Maternity/ Paternity, Intra-gender struggle, Perception of success for non-traditional faculty members
- How can we deal with the hierarcial structure of academia.
- Does our group have protocols in place to handle conflicts when power differentials are present?
- If not, how could we develop practical solutions?
- Wrap up with "meaningful bias-awareness" as the motto of this series
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Setting up a Point-of-Contact peer group that peers can get in touch with to reach out for help
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Bias awareness tests for all of us [to raise awareness and educate ourselves on this topic]
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Being open to confronting interactions in the day-to-day activities and having the attitude to learn from such interactions
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Look into "Same words, different meaning" training course within the group to learn, grow, and adapt to our changing work places and making space for diverse perspectives and ideas
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Additionally, including some sort of a training program and/or workshop collectively for the group to raise awareness about various intergration and diversity improvement techniques within the group.
- Through TU Delft' existing framework
- Through external training programs
- Through team building exerices etc.
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Look into training programs for new members within the group. A one time training that covers DEI would be a great way to improve the overall awareness on topics like this.
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In the following discussions:
- We could go around the table where everyone gets a chance to express their ideas and thoughts. This way we avoid sticking to the loudest voices in the room.
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Gina, Akshay, Nadine, and Ken can start a working group on these discussions and see how things can progress on this front.
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Nadine also recommended that we make an anonymous form to get responses from everyone to see how everyone feels about continuing the discussions.