MY WORK

I normally work with universities, so I really appreciated the invitation to talk to pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk staff in Oxford about key topics in LGBTQ+ today. The timing was great as it preceded Oxford Pride the following day. I … Continued

Focus group and strategy planning meeting for the University of Oxford LGBT+ Staff Network It was very pleased to be invited to facilitate a workshop and follow-up meetings for members of the Network a part of its continuing development. Great … Continued

10 years ago saw the launch of of the mentoring scheme which matched LGBTQ+ students with employees from a range of organisations to explore the transition from university to work and further study. Under the heading Get Out Stay Out, … Continued

Over the past three years over 400 members of staff and PhD students have participated in the two-hour workshops needed to be an LGBTQ+ Ally. An extraordinary commitment given the demands of their day jobs and hybrid working. And even … Continued

This was a three-hour interactive workshop for 40 participants covering: key terms and background to LGBTQ+ employability and students in HE overview of surveys and research into the improving but not so good experiences of staff and students the complex … Continued

A busy month including: an advanced’ workshop for existing Allies and EDI Leads, workshop for students as Allies, bespoke session for a Chemistry department panel speaker for student LGBTQ+ Physics society

Very pleased to be asked to run another series of workshops for the University’s LGBTQ+ Allies Scheme. 38 attended a two-hour session. Only three apologies and everyone else stayed to the end: pretty remarkable giving the pressures on everyone. I … Continued

I can’t believe we’re in the 9th year of the LGBTQ+ mentoring scheme! Intakes this term and again in February. Two meetings already with my mentee and I’m learning as much as they are: great opportunity to find out about … Continued

A great discussion with Imperial about hoe best to support Civil Engineering Students. It reminded me how important surveys are to (a) raise the topic and get discussion going  (b) provide qualitative and quantitative data for senior staff (who have … Continued

A great end to this year’s programme of bespoke Allies workshops focussing on each of the five academic Colleges of the university. Participants were equally split  between professional services (admin, support staff, student services) and academics (teaching, research and clinical) … Continued

The University of Warwick has a very comprehensive LGBTQ programme for staff and students and details can be found here. Their LGBTQUA+ Allies scheme was one of the very first to be set up at a UK university. As a … Continued

These to events show the range of events going on at the University of Birmingham this year. LGBTQ Bingo: very chuffed to be asked to m/c a gentle and fun review of the the various terms and initials currently in … Continued

After a the usual Covid delay for a few months break while I and the university move training online, I’m continuing to run Allies workshops for the University as part of my long-term consultancy partnership which has covered allies, employability … Continued

I will be joined by Ross Strong, Stonewall Project Manager at BCU, to present a workshop about LGBTQ in universities in the context  of intersectionality. Booking at:  https://www.amosshe.org.uk/event-4038035  

I’ll be the opening speaker at this event with an overview of LGBTQ employability topics. There will be a range of speakers from different sectors. To book at this free event, go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/being-lgbtq-in-the-workplace-tickets-129727104261

Great to be part of the launch of the 8th year of this scheme which matches LGBT students with out LGBT people across  a range of occupations and roles . Still the only scheme of its kind at UK universities … Continued

Really enjoyed chairing this event, great line-up of speakers, to booking a range of other events click here : Programme: Sean Russell – Get Out Stay Out – ‘LGBTQ+ people are protected under the law – what’s the problem?’ The … Continued

Many thanks to Universities UK (UUK) for inviting me to close their schedule of Pride events by talking about the importance of Allies schemes in HE. The key points covered were: The law as it now stands, the Public Sector … Continued

The University of Birmingham’s LGBTQ is up and running! In common with many other organisations, Allies identity themselves with lanyards, postcards and email signatures.  Birmingham was keen that wearing an official lanyard should mean something. In June, I ran two … Continued

This was the second meeting of representatives of the LGBT Networks University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust and partners including the City Council. I attended as someone who advises organisations on setting up and maintaining staff networks. My role at this … Continued

The LGBTNoNHE committee met at the University of the Arts London to discuss its future strategy. I have been an external adviser for the Network since its inception in 2017. I started the day with a ‘Blue Sky’ workshop to … Continued

The mentoring scheme kicks off for it’s 7th year with 25 applications, another record. The launch evening featured speakers from a range of occupations, including Justin Varney, Director of Public Health at Birmingham City Council. We then moved into small … Continued

The last time I visited The Centre was in the early 90’s – I was an in-the-closet teacher at the time – so it was an extraordinary experience to find this oasis of acceptance and safety. I remember mostly the … Continued

I met with members of HR , Equality and Diversity and LGBTQ Staff Network teams last year to share my experiences of setting up a mentoring scheme as they wanted to do the same at BSUH. The great news is … Continued

I’ve been engaged in a two-year consultancy providing advice on a range of LGBTQ issues including: curriculum and mentoring. Please check back for news as this exciting project develops.

The University of Birmingham is launching an Allies scheme designed to raise the visibility of those non – LGBTQ people who wish to make a statement of support and inclusivity for LGBTQ staff and students. I ran two exploratory workshops … Continued

Medical and Dental Students go on placement during their courses to hospitals, clinics, GP surgeries, physios. I ran two sessions for medical professionals who receive such students who are studying for the Education for the Health Professionals Qualification  . It is validated … Continued

I ran a 3 hour workshop for academic and non-academic staff  from a wide range of roles. A really good example of close co-operation between the Students’ Union – who came up with the idea – and the university’s Staff … Continued

The University of Birmingham and  Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities have combined to set up a scheme whereby student ambassadors are trained to be Equality and Diversity Ambassadors to work with fellow students and university staff to enhance the university … Continued

Are university careers services providing the best service for LGBT students who, as graduates, interns or postgraduates, face a different set of challenges?  Well, some are , some are not. Best practice includes dedicated pages of advice, LGBT employer events, … Continued

The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)  is the expert membership organisation for higher education student career development and graduate employment professionals and I presented a session on ensuring their services were inclusive of and attractive to LGBT students. … Continued

The student mental health charity, Student Minds, has conducted a survey and report: LGBTQ+ Student Mental Health: The challenges and needs of gender, sexual and romantic minorities in Higher Education.  I was invited to a discussion of the survey’s findings along … Continued

The Higher Education LGBT+ Network of Networks has been running for over a year now. It brings together university LGBT+ staff networks to share good practice and hear from guest speakers. I have been an adviser to the Network from … Continued

The University runs a course for health professionals who teach undergraduate medical students, Education For Health Professionals, E4HP . There are two groups: the first, about 40 people,  who are recently qualified and return to teach undergraduates specific hospital skills. The … Continued

It seems there is more and more research being conducted in the area of LGBT people’s experiences.  I was delighted to take part in an interview by a PhD student from the University of Westminster Business School who asked me about … Continued

I had a great meeting with the Imperial Outreach team today discussing how to ensure LGBT pupils are included in their various activities. We discussed the importance of working with current LGBT students and staff and making sure any outreach … Continued

HEPI produce a survey every year, the Student Academic Experience Survey. This year for the first time, they reported student perceptions broken down under sexual orientation, well, LGB. There weren’t enough responses to make ‘T’ responses robust enough. I hope … Continued

I ran a workshop on setting up and sustaining LGBT staff networks. We had 22 participants from across the UK, mostly from universities, but also from local councils. The 3 hour session was very interactive with input from me about … Continued

This was an exceptional event for two reasons: (a) the numbers – 220 delegates, the largest LGBT+ conference I’ve been too outside of Stonewall’s annual Workplace Conference (b) the speakers and presenters were human beings! At some conferences the speakers … Continued

I ran a workshop for staff, students and external visitors as part of Bath Spa’s extensive LGBT History Month programme. It was entitled ‘Towards an LGBT-Inclusive Curriculum’ and drew on the University of Birmingham’s project of this name. See the Universities … Continued

I’ll be introducing speakers at this evening event looking at the improving experience of the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace. For booking and further details of the speakers, follow this link. You’ll hear from a range of speakers form across the … Continued

I’ll be speaking at this conference on the particular issues facing LGBTQ+ students. I’ll be posting the headlines from this conference soon afterwards. I’m also very happy to share PPoints, so do get in touch.   Download here

This network has been established for over a year now providing a forum for HE LGBT Staff Networks to meet to share good practice. The usual format is a few presentations and plenty of time to network and it’s FREE!  … Continued

Equal Engineers was set up by Dr Mark McBride-Wright and this is the first careers fair ‘focused specifically on improving diversity and inclusion in the engineering pipeline, bringing together candidates from multi-strand backgrounds and identities into one place.’ He also … Continued

OpenLand is a midlands-based networking group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans professionals working in the real estate, property and construction sectors. For details of this event see the OpenLand website. Previous events have included speakers specialising in the property … Continued

I co-presented with colleagues from the University of Birmingham at the ECU National Conference as part of the workshop ‘Queering the Academy’. The session covered the LGBT Inclusive Curriculum Project now in it’s fourth year at the University. I covered work … Continued

A great range of participants from: travel, housing associations, government, charities, local councils, the police, education, defence and training. My session focussed on the experience of new graduates and their expectations of employers. Some of the issues covered included: the … Continued

The 6th year of the LGBT Mentoring Scheme launched last night with a record number of 25 University of Birmingham students and mentors from occupations across the city including engineering, charities, accountancy, law, academics, local authorities and training. Mentors identified themselves … Continued

A PhD student is carrying out some research on LGBT+ students’ beliefs and well-being. A description of the research follows: What is the purpose of the study and who can take part? We are looking for UK College or University … Continued

Another excellent event hosted by Gowling with speakers from Stonewall and the Alliance. More to follow…

This was a very wide-ranging conference on equality and diversity attracting people with a range of roles from a variety of organisations. My focus was on LGBT People in the workplace. My key messages were: why LGBT and the workplace … Continued

Two great days discussing a wide range of LGBT issues in higher education – a wealth of practical advice on how to best support our students and staff and some incisive and thought-provoking presentations from cutting-edge academics in this field. … Continued

The Alliance Network runs events looking at work place issues in professional services. This event, hosted by Pinsent Masons, focussed on keeping graduates out of the closet. In addition to advising on the format of the evening, I spoke at the opening … Continued

Mercer is an international firm providing a wide range of professional services. Their LGBT Staff network, Wireless, ran an event looking at how to create an LGBT inclusive workplace, focussing on lesbians. This was one the very few LGBT events I’ve … Continued

Irwin Mitchell is a large law firm with 15 offices around the country. They asked me to join their LGBT staff network, IMEqual , in one of their regular videoconference events to talk about the mentoring scheme I run for the … Continued

This article outlines the mentoring scheme I set up for the University of Birmingham. It emphasises the collaboration between different departments of the University and the benefits to students in terms of their mental health. If you have any questions … Continued

I was asked to provide an opening speech outlining some of the current LGBT issues for staff and students in HE today. Areas I covered included: transition to HE; an inclusive curriculum; induction/Freshers Week; international LGBT students; employability; internships and placements; … Continued

Great to be back at Stonewall Conference – 800 delegates, 100 at the workshop I spoke at: Proud employers: Recruiting diverse talent. My focus was on retention. It’s all very well spending time and resources recruiting LGBT graduates, but what do … Continued

24th February 2016: Equality Challenge Unit meeting. As part of my work researching LGBT staff networks and allies schemes I was invited to a meeting at ECU to explore how best to link networks across the HE and FE sector. … Continued

October 26th 2016: The launch of the fifth year of the University of Birmingham mentoring scheme – Get Out Stay Out: how to thrive in work. The scheme continues to develop year on year: 3 students in 2012, 26 this year. … Continued

9th June 2016: great to be on the panel for regional meeting of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Good range of employers keen to work with their professional body to attract a wider range of applicants.

Alliance Network – looking forward to working with Birmingham’s LGBT professional network on their forthcoming programme of activities.