IDEA Committee Update
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue26 1–31 March 2022
Our first Unconscious Bias training, facilitated by Gender Matters, will take place on March 16. It will be a face-to-face workshop from 9.30am to 1.30pm (including breaks). This will be the first unconscious bias training of a series; due to the current recruitment high in the RSAA and AITC, the focus of this first workshop will be mitigating bias in recruitment decisions by individuals and/or panels. We have 20 available spots, so don’t wait too long to sign up! Send an email to idea.rsaa@anu.edu.au.
The IDEA committee has also been organising Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training provided by Mental Health Australia. The MHFA course consists of 5-7 hours of an e-learning package (online module) and 2 sessions of 2 ½ hours delivered face to face. We have already received the first 50 vouchers to start the e-learning module. Those (staff and students) interested in getting trained in Mental Health First Aid, please contact the IDEA committee (idea.rsaa@anu.edu.au). We are aiming to organise the first face-to-face session towards the end of April. Some RSAA members have already participated in this training in the past, but if it has been longer than two years ago, we will accept applicants looking for a refresher (priority will be given to those who have not received the accreditation yet). Most of the IDEA committee members are accredited as Mental Health First Aiders and we highly recommend this training!
We would also like to remind everyone that the quiet room (Woolley building, W003 next to the bridge towards Duffield) is ready and available through the MSO booking system (www.mso.anu.edu.au/mrbs → Meeting Rooms from the drop-down menu → RSAA Wellness Room). If you want to make use of the room, please book it and/or use the sign on the door. And very important: give us feedback!
The IDEA committee is also contributing to a new Parental Leave Principles Working Group, which has the intent to provide actionable recommendations to SoEN/CECS leadership and beyond. Our co-chair Luca Casagrande has been running interviews among RSAA affected members to understand the gap between the existing mechanisms that enable an ANU flexible workplace with focus on wellbeing, parental transition and wider caring services, and the actual achievable reality for carers. Our goal is to extend these recommendations to the College of Science through the CoS Diversity and Equity committee.
Last but not least, we are still recruiting new members! As you can see, the current activities driven by the IDEA committee have already ramped up and would only need a small fraction of your time to keep them going! A small investment that would make a very big difference!
We hope to see a lot of you in the upcoming training sessions! And remember March 8 is International Women’s Day!!
Noelia Martinez-Rey
