Dr Zalihe (Zal) (Zaa-ley-heh) Kamil-Thomas (Ka-meel – Tom-uhs) (She/Her)
Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Advanced Practice - Faculty of Health
What diversity and inclusion means to me
Diversity to me means recognising, valuing, and having respect for the differences that each person has, and brings with them as individuals. Being inclusive is about embracing all those diversities. It is about giving people the opportunity to have their voices heard, by including them in conversations with them that are about them. It is about providing an environment where everyone feels welcomed, with opportunities to flourish and grow.
Why did you apply for the role?
I am passionate about all students and staff being given equitable opportunity to achieve their full potential. Coming from a Global Majority, lower socio-economic, first-generation immigrant background, and having English as my second language, has given me in site into some of the challenges minoritised people have to face. What I also recognise and absolutely respect is that everyone is different. That their experiences are individual to them and are no less important than another’s. I also truly believe that challenges people face can be made better by and with the help of others, especially in higher education. Whether study or working within it, education opens doors. It gives people the opportunity to change not only their own lives, but the lives of those closest to them. However, what this also means is that some people will need more support than others to level up and be able to do so. The experiences of Global Majority nursing students is an area that I am particularly interested in and am currently undertaking PhD study within this area.
Having the opportunity to have a voice that can represent, challenge, and bring about change for students and staff, no matter what their diversity and inclusion needs are, is something I feel very privileged, passionate and honoured to have. Working closely with PVC for the faculty of Health and the Diversity and Inclusion Team, we hope to work on improving identified key diversity and Inclusion properties for the Faculty of Health and wider university.
Key priorities
A summary of my key priorities:
- improving recruitment of diverse students for programmes within the faculty with identified low diversity rates
- improving staff diversity and progression to leadership positions
- evaluating neurodivergent strategies that accommodate the needs of students with identified disabilities
- maintaining a sense of belonging for students and staff within an inclusive campus - part of this is recognising the need for and providing quite areas for neurodivergent needs, Multi faith room for prayer and spiritual needs and a breastfeeding room
Dr Olatunde (O-la-tuun-dey) Durowoju (Doo-rou-wou-ju) (He/Him)
Programme Leader, Collaborative Programmes – Faculty of Business and Law
Having led and worked on multiple inclusivity projects within and outside of LJMU, Dr Olatunde Durowoju has developed a keen sense of the nuanced requirements for a truly inclusive and equitable practice. While we may be different from each other, we are not different in importance and value. We all have equal rights to meaningful opportunities and experiences. As the ADDI for Faculty of Business and Law, Olatunde works closely with the faculty management team to ensure that the strategies, policies, processes, environment, communication, and culture within the faculty increasingly reflect this, to remove barriers and deliver equity of outcomes and experiences for all student and staff groups.
He is currently working on creating an inclusive, warm and welcoming space for students on campus. He has created a series of Inclusive Practice Projects and a tasked-based interactive workshop that focuses on embedding inclusive practices within school programmes, modules or support services.
Philip (Fil-ip) Bakstad (Back-staad) (He/Him)
Student Inclusion Lead, Student Advice and Wellbeing Services - Professional Services
As someone who was first in family to enter university, I have experienced first-hand the transformational power of higher education. I am passionate about ensuring that every member of our community can benefit from the transformational opportunities that LJMU provides to both students and staff. I often say that I have grown up at LJMU and my career to date has been focussed on engaging with diverse communities and tackling inequalities to facilitate access and success in higher education.
Some of my priorities as ADDI (Professional Services) are:
- developing a Student Inclusivity Board to further engage students from diverse communities with the breadth of Professional Services at LJMU
- support colleagues from across Professional Services to engage with our staff diversity networks
- deliver a supported and streamlined process for students wishing to change their name
Dr T. Komang (Ko-mang) Ralebitso-Senior (Rar-leh-bee-soh – See-nee-uh) (She/Her)
Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences - Faculty of Science
The rich diversity of the LJMU community means that a target to equalise – 'to make equal; to make regular or even' – should be recognised as an egalitarian achievable interim with equity – 'fairness and justice… [law]… corrects, if necessary, its failure to accord with what is morally just and fair' – our ultimate, albeit more challenging, goal.
An example analogy is: 'equality is everyone getting a pair of shoes'; 'equity is everyone getting a pair of shoes that fits' hence barriers are removed, where 'diversity is everyone getting a different type of shoe' which they can wear with a sense of acceptance and belonging and without fear of judgement.
I see this as an opportunity to become one of the staff engendering and driving a holistic, concerted and ‘living’ policy. I aim to achieve this by exchanging good practices with colleagues while expanding Diversity and Inclusion activities and quality contributions from the current School level to the Faculty level, and the University at large. It is my conviction that equality is a justifiable University ethos for how we support our students and staff, while aiming for equity.
Some of my key priorities as ADDI are:
- ensuring that quality engagement with Diversity and Inclusion is captured within Actus, and recognised fully by being allocated time, rewarded and included in the criteria for staff promotion
- increasing Diversity and Inclusion presence, visibility and activities on Byrom Street campus
- ensuring that LJMU inclusivity charters, such as the Access and Participation Plan’s attainment gap, are captured properly within Diversity and Inclusion action plans
Dr Denise (Dee-nees) Yek Chung (Yehk Ch-uh-ng) Lee (l-ee) (She/Her)
Programme Leader, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment - Faculty of Engineering and Technology
I can empathise with the challenges and barriers staff and students have experienced both within the university and their lives, hearing lived experiences of the staff and students has meant that I have an in-depth knowledge of strategies, which would help mobilise the progression and experiences of staff within the University.
I strive to create and sustain a community that aligns with the 17 UNSDG’s, as a modern Civic University they align to our ethos in serving our community. I would like to expand on Diversity and Inclusion projects to benefit the staff and students within the Faculty, I hope to understand where we are as a Faculty in relation to Diversity and Inclusion both in staff and students and see how we can improve the experience of all parties. I want to ensure that all staff and students can perform to the best of their ability at LJMU.
To streamline and share activities across the Diversity and Inclusion school committees, a Teams site has been created where we discuss some of our priorities which include:
- Collaborating with the Outreach Team, FET will be conducting sessions about aligning women in STEM for primary – college students
- Reviewing the assessment and feedback guidelines and creating a document to make this inclusive –
The committee has pledge three aspects that they are going to work towards, gender, support for neurodiverse staff and students, and male students from a quantile 1 and 2 background as part of the widening participation plan
Dr Graham (Gray-Uhm) Downes (Downz) (He/Him)
Graham has had a significant role in education across Central Bristol, Bath, and Liverpool. Starting his career as a primary school teacher, he progressed to working as an educational consultant in central Bristol. In this role, he coordinated projects in some of the most deprived areas of the country, with the aim of raising aspiration and academic achievement across primary and secondary schools. Holding the view that education is a resource for all, Graham emphasises the need to provide equal opportunities and to ensure no groups face discrimination. Graham’s work in the higher education sector has encompassed both the South West and Liverpool and has focused extensively on promoting diversity and inclusion. Through various initiatives, he has sought to enhance access to universities and improve the outcomes for underrepresented groups. In his current capacity as Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty of Arts, Professional, and Social Studies, Graham is dedicated to working tirelessly in the interests of all staff and students.
