The past academic year has seen much progress and development across many areas, as we strive to make our Faculty a productive, enjoyable and supportive environment in which to work and learn.
As part of our mission to increase support for career development across the Faculty, a Professional Development Consultant specifically for Fellows has been recruited; Leanne Lillepuu. Leanne works across the College and has put in place a number of initiatives to provide support for fellows. As part of this she has been doing a lot of specific work for clinical fellows – joining up the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre with the CATO (Clinical Academic Training Office). Her remit is to develop an inclusive programme of support and cohort building activities, with the aim of increasing the number of applications, and ultimately the number of fellowships awarded.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We have established a Faculty Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee that will be chaired by Professor Sara Rankin. With a broad remit, this new committee will cover all areas of equality, diversity, inclusion and culture, working closely with the already operational Faculty of Medicine Athena SWAN Committee. We look forward to the Committee’s first meeting this coming September.
Last October our Institute of Clinical Sciences received a Silver Award from Athena SWAN, adding to those held by the Department of Medicine, NHLI and School of Public Health, and the Department of Surgery and Cancer’s Bronze Award. This is part of our ongoing commitment to equality in science and success for all. The coming six months will see Athena renewal applications being submitted for NHLI,SPH and Surgery and Cancer, with the outcome of the Department of Medicine’s application currently awaited.
Staff Survey Action Plan
Another major action for the coming year is development and improvement of the frameworks we have in place for effective communication within this Faculty. This response forms part of our Action Plan following the 2017 Staff Survey, from which Faculty staff responses showed that, while there are areas of good practice and strength within the Faculty in terms of communication, there are significant areas where the Faculty can do better in communicating well about issues affecting Faculty life and our strategic direction.
Work on this has already started with the completion of the first round of Dean’s campus roadshows during the Winter/Spring of this year and planning is already underway for the next round this Autumn. Faculty staff from different professional roles and locations are also contributing to discussion about opportunities for improvement: this has helped us to begin to draw out opportunities for investigation and progress. We will continue to work over the remainder of 2018 to consult, develop, better define and share the Faculty’s approach in this important area.