Developing an Aspirational Culture – 13th January 2015

SunGen Symposium

 13^th January 2015

Priestman 015, 9-30-12-30

 Developing an Aspirational Culture

This half-day symposium, organised by the University of Sunderland Gender Network (SunGen), will bring together speakers from across the university and externally to discuss ideas and strategies for developing an aspirational culture amongst our students and staff. Brief talks and presentations will be given on research into the role of gender and aspiration in the UK context, personal experiences of aspiration, and suggestions for how this might be improved at Sunderland University.

This symposium is inspired by the 2014 World Economic Forum Gender Equality annual report which shows that the UK has the highest proportion of women in FE and HE in the world but is 64^th in terms of gender equality amongst senior managers and officials, and 66^th in equality in terms of professional and technical workers.

Confirmed speakers:

•  Dr Julie Scanlon of Northumbria University, who manages the Gendered Subjects Twitter account.
• There will also be short presentations by Justine Gillespie of Sunderland University HR; Marrion Wilkes of Sunderland University Careers Service; Prof Gail Sanders and Prof Bridget Cooper, both of Sunderland University.

At the end of the symposium, we hope to have developed a suggested strategy to include ‘aspiration’ in a more focused way across our university and link this to the existing ‘employability’ agenda.

Please contact angela.smith@sunderland.ac.uk by 17^th December to reserve your place and take part in the discussions. The event is free to attend for university staff, but we would like to provide tea and biscuits so need to know numbers for catering.