Fostering a supportive academic culture for all. Insights from an FNP survey and workshop on anti-discrimination, inclusion and diversity

Abstract

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, a group of Forest and Nature Conservation and Policy (FNP) group researchers came together to discuss whether and how we need to explore and fight discriminatory practices in our own institutional context. This document reports on our findings from a survey that ran over the summer 2020 (n = 44 responses from BBN and MFN students and FNP staff), and a workshop held on October 22nd with FNP staff (n = 16). In our survey, we openly asked
about: 1) experiences of discrimination in WUR; 2) social comfort within our chair group; and 3) possibilities for FNP to address discrimination and enhance inclusivity. During the workshop, we asked staff members to reflect upon the survey results and brainstorm ways forward.
This report highlights experiences of discrimination and explores ideas to enable change related to four main themes that we identified as crucial within our group, and WUR more broadly:
1. Student learning environments
2. Staff-student interactions
3. Gender related concerns at work
4. Positive or “invisible” discrimination
We hope that by sharing these experiences and our reflections on them, we can build our collective motivation to take direct actions that actively address discrimination and foster a supportive culture for all within the university.