What it means to win a prize for Inclusion at university
Last year, I won a University prize for Inclusion via the Nottingham Advantage Award. Inclusive practices are vitally important, so it was a huge honour to be recognised for my ongoing efforts to learn how to be more inclusive.
Firstly, what is the Nottingham Advantage Award?
The Nottingham Advantage Award (NAA) is an optional university award given to University of Nottingham students who complete 3 mini-modules outside their academic degree program. Modules offer students the opportunity to gain employability skills and experience in a diverse range of subjects and receive recognition upon completion.
About the Prize for Inclusion
Several different prizes, including the Inclusion prize, can be awarded to students who take part in the NAA. Each prize is sponsored by an employer and has a different theme, recognising students’ efforts on that particular theme within their NAA modules. Students need to apply to be considered, going through a similar process as a job application with a follow up interview.
I chose to apply for the Inclusion prize because Equality, Diversity and Inclusion have long been a passion of mine, and these formed the core theme of the modules I chose and the experiences I gained. After submitting an application to be considered I was invited for an interview with 3 people: the Associate Director of the university’s Careers and Employability Service, a representative from Enterprise Rent-A-Car (the prize sponsor) and one of the NAA Managers. I am delighted to have won!
How and why did I choose my modules?
Below I describe the three NAA modules I chose and what I gained from completing them.
My first NAA Module: ‘Excel in Science’
The Black Lives Matter events in 2020 ignited my drive to educate myself about my implicit biases and how to be proactively anti-racist. One NAA module called Excel in Science launched for the first time in October 2020 with an event on this topic in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), centering BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) voices.
“Rather than only learning how to be a good scientist, I also wanted to learn how to be a better colleague and peer.”
The Excel in Science module offered this opportunity, and more.
Many inclusive activities stop at ‘Equality’, which doesn’t account for individual differences, or ‘Equity’ where the barriers remain. The ideal goal is ‘liberation’ where no barriers exist. Original Graphic Courtesy of The Center for Story Based Strategy.
I also learned about the benefits and importance of diversity of all kinds, especially in research where I explored the topic of Genomes and Health within a group of other students. Plus, this module introduced me to the topic of Neurodiversity, a concept that describes the natural diversity of all humans in the way we experience the world, and about Neurodivergence, a term that describes diverging significantly away from the ‘average’, such as being autistic, dyslexic, having ADHD, etc.
Artistic representation of human brain with rainbow, spectrum-like colours made using Midjourney by the author.
My second NAA Module: ‘The Importance of Representation in the Students’ Union’
During my first year at university, the pandemic meant most of my degree course was taught online, which led to a lack of connection with others at university. I also wanted to be of service; not just receive education. I became a course representative, a role that involves representing my peers in my year studying the same degree, passing on feedback to academic staff. This was an opportunity for me to give back, utilising my previous career skills in remote working, and develop important interpersonal and leadership skills at a critical time for all.
The majority of my role involved improving communication between staff and students in the form of improving the delivery of online modules in a way that didn’t overwhelm certain groups of students, and filling gaps of information about events such as virtual practical sessions. Along the way I had to learn how to encourage communication from my younger student peers and also ensure I communicated with kindness and consideration for staff who were understandably stretched due to working with limited resources during pandemic restrictions.
The NAA module called The Importance of Representation in the Students’ Union invited me to reflect upon all these experiences, pick out key learning points, and explore ways I can continue to grow and improve.
Communication was the core theme of many things I learned about being inclusive as a course representative. Image made by the author using Midjourney.
My final NAA Module: ‘Communicating Science Through Art’
My final module combined two lifelong loves: art and zoology, and continued on the theme of communication. I wrote about my project and published my digital art here on my blog. In summary, A.I. art is trained on images created by humans on the internet. Many of these images perpetuate outdated ideas. My project highlighted ‘shifting baseline syndrome’ whereby people’s ideas of how wilderness should look is impacted by their personal experiences, rather than by what we know thanks to science. Human-made agricultural landscapes, for example, were commonly included when asking Midjourney’s A.I. to generate images of wilderness.
You can learn more about this project and view my art pieces here: Art journal: Rewilding as seen through Midjourney’s A.I. art
Thumbnails from my art journal project. See above for links to learn more about what I explored and discovered. Images made by the author using Midjourney.
What next?
Inclusion has always been an important topic for me right from my teenage years when I was hand-coding websites in HTML and learning about how to build in accessibility features. I am committed to a lifelong journey of uncovering my implicit biases and learning how to be more inclusive. I know from experience this isn’t easy, but it IS worth it. I don’t believe there is a destination; only continual growth that rewards us all. This prize feels like I have made this commitment public and can now be held accountable, which is a very good thing.
Scan of my prize certificate (click to enlarge).