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Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS)

 

As part of the application for a Bronze Award, the Self Assessment Team (SAT) have been asked to submit an Action Plan. The plan covers current initiatives and our aspirations for the next four years, as well as actions to address issues identified in the application. Some of our current initiatives and key action points are detailed below; the complete Action Plan is comprised of 25 action points. Below are just some of the initiatives that we are currently implementing in the department.

 

Current initiatives

  • Actively encouraging all staff members (both Academic and Administrative) at POLIS to participate in Equality and Diversity training, including the University's 'Understanding Unconscious or Implicit Bias' Training on Moodle

Links to this training session have been sent via email to staff members. If you would also like to take the training, please click here.  

  • Introducing workshops for PhD students on publications

For more information on upcoming seminars on publications, please contact the PhD Administrator for your course. 

  • Encouraging progression to graduate study from undergraduate study

Alongside Graduate Open Day held in November, MPhil and PhD programmes hold internal sessions for students wishing to progress into graduate studies. For more information on these sessions and the programmes in general, please contact the administrator for the course.

  • Promoting the role of Wellbeing Contact as a confidential, reliable source of information for students on all matters of wellbeing; annual wellbeing survey, wellbeing week and staff/student workshops.

You can learn more about this here - Wellbeing at POLIS 

 

Future action points

  • Carry out a five-year review of graduate student examination results across the entire Department; if any gender disparities are found, the SAT will work to introduce policies to address this. 
  • Work to increase female acceptance rates onto all graduate courses; historically, female acceptance rates have been lower and the SAT have a number of action points related to this to investigate the reasons why, and to try to address this issue. 
  • Review HR and recruitment practices to encourage more female applicants to apply for positions in the Department. 
  • Formalise our mentoring scheme for early career academics. 
  • Increase the percentage of female speakers at Department events.
  • Investigate and trial scheduling events at different times of the day; ensuring events are scheduled with enough time in advance to allow for childcare arrangements. 

And many more!