IDEA Committee Update
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue19 1–31 August 2021
At the Senior Staff Retreat last week, the RSAA IDEA committee presented some of the initiatives in the pipeline to improve work-environment and culture within the School. This is now part of the Culture Action Plan Stage II (CAP II), which builds on the contributions, feedback and lessons learnt from all people who volunteered for Stage I: thank you!
Besides a long term plan to achieve our goals, we have identified areas which need urgent action. Our priorities for the next year will be the Removal of Barriers for a Diverse Workforce, Prevention of Sexual Violence and Promotion of Equitable Careers. For many of these initiatives we have engaged with the ANU Respectful Relationship Unit, and we will be supported through the RSAA Strategic Initiative Funding. As funds need to be used by the end of this calendar year, the IDEA committee will take the lead organising a culture survey, implicit bias and mental health first aid training. The remaining initiatives will be coordinated with new working groups to be created. We will have a Special All-School Meeting within the next few weeks to launch CAP II, engage with the community for feedback, and find volunteers for other activities. If you would like to propose an initiative, please do so! We are just one email away idea.rsaa@anu.edu.au or come and talk to any of us.
Participating in CAP II is crucial to be part of the permanent change we want to see. The time and effort put in to make this happen will be recognized as an integral part of our workplace responsibilities and included as a metric in the Performance Development Review. With the departure of Naomi Somerville, we would like to invite anyone from the professional staff to volunteer for a position within the committee.
To bring our community together and help relieve all the stress from the last few months, the IDEA committee has organised a crafty lunch on Monday 9 August from 12.30 to 1.30pm. Wake up the artist in you and join us in the CSO Common Room for a lunch full of creativity! What to bring? Your lunch and something “crafty” to work on (knitting, crocheting, origami, etc). We’ll provide colour pencils and paper. When and where? Monday 9 August 12.30-1.30pm in the CSO Common Room, or Zoom in: https://anu.zoom.us/j/84548889866?pwd=V01jaHpIYzdodHVSQ21OQ1ZnQ29VQT09
Finally, we would like to bring to your attention these two new interactive gender data visualisations recently released by the ARC. This is part of the ARC mission to achieve gender equality and to contribute to the broader goal for diversity and inclusion across the Australian research sector. You are invited to familiarize yourself with the data and for the first time see information on participation and success rates by gender at the university level.
Luca Casagrande
