Resources and Events

Universities around Australia are increasingly focused on supporting the participation and success of students from marginalised backgrounds. Early research shows that engaging students as partners can better facilitate that success.

Together with Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, we’ll explore the concept of a student-staff partnership and the ways universities can introduce democratic principles into classrooms. Practices such as co-creation and co-design can enhance student learning, and have potential compensatory effects for historically marginalised student groups.

Next, Dr Arti Agrawal will tell us about the UTS Women in Engineering and IT programme, an example of student-staff partnerships in action. She will discuss the central role that students play as partners – particularly in their schools outreach activities – and share insights on how to engage students in gender equity and inclusion to foster a sense of belonging. We’ll also briefly consider how students’ intersecting identities manifest themselves in real and practical ways.

Further resources

• The Power of Partnership: Students, Staff, and Faculty Revolutionizing Higher Education, an open access eBook edited by Lucy Mercer-Mapstone and Sophia Abbot.
• Deakin University’s Australian Open Textbook Project, where researchers study how the use of free open textbooks can widen student participation and strengthen their sense of belonging through more socially diverse content.

To further their impact and engage a broad network of staff with their approach to diversity and inclusion, Macquarie University has established a network of local D&I committees, Executive-level gender equity KPIs, and a clear governance structure for D&I across the University.

The aim of these local level D&I committees is to drive sustainable cultural change, tailored to local issues and contexts, and to support the implementation of the University’s diversity and inclusion plans.

To tell us more about this work, we’ve invited Macquarie University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Integrity and Development) and SAGE Academic Lead Professor Lesley Hughes, Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Consultant Harriet Jones and Workplace Coach & Consultant, Rachael Brady.

They’ll share the experiences, success stories, and struggles in establishing this new governance model, and give an overview of the training and support provided to establish, and successfully maintain, committees and networks at a local level.

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Further resources

• Webinar article

There’s plenty of research on employees’ needs and perceptions of gender equality in their workplace, but the role of middle managers is often overlooked. Unless these key players are fully engaged in operationalising change initiatives, organisations’ top-down commitment to gender equality tends to stall at the middle management level.

In this webinar, industrial relations expert Dr Sue Williamson will outline how middle managers can progress gender equality, providing practical tips and strategies on what works, and the challenges which remain.

Like anyone else, middle managers may struggle to champion inclusion because they lack the interest, skills or resources to do so. Prof. Carol T. Kulik tells us about University of South Australia’s Small Steps program, an example of how organisations can empower “inclusion beginners” to take action. Small Steps is a roadshow that delivers a short series of research findings, each accompanied by a small step that any employee can take to make the university more inclusive.

To help us improve your SAGE webinar experience, we’d love it if you could complete this very short survey.

Further resources

• Report by Dr Sue Williamson and colleagues, The role of middle managers in progressing gender equity in the public sector.

Effective evaluation and monitoring of the progress made towards achieving an institution’s gender equality goals requires dedicated tools, leadership and ongoing commitment to support action and ensure accountability.

In this webinar, Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) Professor Cobie Rudd shares her insights and how their use of a custom dashboard drives the implementation of gender equity initiatives across their institution.

Learning from experiences throughout their Athena SWAN journey, ECU has developed a coordinated approach to the collection and analysis of institutional gender-associated data. This data allows the University to oversee, monitor and report on progress made against the Bronze Action Plan both within and external to the institution.

We’ll hear how ECU tracks progress on gender equity initiatives and provides evidence to their leadership and governing bodies, allowing far-reaching information sharing across the university.

To help us improve your SAGE webinar experience, we’d love it if you could complete this very short survey.

At most institutions, the intensive preparation process for an Athena SWAN award is coordinated by Project Leads and Self-Assessment Teams (SATs). What is it like to be in the driver’s seat for gender equity, diversity and inclusion? What motivates these individuals in their work, and how can their organisations support them?

In this webinar, University of Tasmania sociologist Assoc. Prof. Meredith Nash explores how SAT members think about gender and gender equity. Gender differences in SAT members’ reasons for participating could translate into unequal workload distributions on the SAT, which in turn reproduces gender inequality in the academic workforce.

We’ll also hear from La Trobe University’s SAGE Athena SWAN project manager Dr Natasha Weir, who will examine the lived experiences of Athena SWAN project leads, their perceptions, perspectives, understandings and feelings about their efforts to apply the Charter in Australia.

Further resources

• Paper by Assoc. Prof. Meredith Nash and colleagues, An exploration of perceptions of gender equity among SAGE Athena SWAN self-assessment team members in a regional Australian university, published in Higher Education Research & Development.

The Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020) identified the use of industry, state and federal awards and recognition programs as a key tool to incentivise industries to improve their approaches to preventing and addressing workplace sexual harassment. SAGE was cited in Respect@Work as an effective model for encouraging positive organisational change – eliminating sexual harassment is directly relevant to a number of the Athena SWAN Charter principles.

In this webinar, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, outlines how SAGE members can use the Respect@Work findings, as well as key recommendations from Change the Course, to strengthen approaches to tackling workplace sexual harassment. The webinar is facilitated and moderated by Professor Kay Latham, Dean of STEMM Diversity and Inclusion at RMIT University.

You can also read a summary of the webinar highlights and key recommendations.

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