Leiden University has welcomed growing diversity in its students and staff in recent years. Yet being diverse is not the same as being inclusive. How can we ensure a working and learning environment where all students and staff feel at home, and where everyone has the opportunity to develop their talents? Does our teaching reach all our students? What can programme chairs and administrators do to make the curriculum more inclusive? And how do we engage with questions about race and racism – one of the most complex and challenging topics of our time?
This year’s symposium, hosted by the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, will explore what we all can do to contribute to an inclusive learning and working environment, whether we are lecturers, students or administrators, or engage with students and staff in other capacities. We are excited to be able to welcome Frank Tuitt, a scholar and experienced Diversity Officer, to talk about his experience in promoting inclusive excellence in teaching. Kamna Patel, Vice Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at University College London (UCL), will discuss why ‘race’ is such a challenging but necessary topic to tackle as part of diversity policy. Their talks will be followed by a series of interactive workshops focusing on institutional transformation, implicit bias, working and studying with a disability, social boundaries and consent, anti-racist alliances and inclusivity skills training, which should offer ideas and tools on how to contribute to a more inclusive and safe learning and working environment for all.