International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th every year. This year’s theme was Be Bold For Change, and highlighted the shocking statistic that, at current rates of change, the gender gap won’t close until 2168 (according to the World Economic Forum). Female staff in the FBMH Teaching Labs posed for this photo to show their support for the campaign, but male staff benefit too from reducing the gender gap, particularly where family benefits such as parenting leave are concerned. Thanks to Hayley Monk for this photo.
At the end of January we hosted a coffee and networking event in the foyer of the Schuster building. As well as tea, coffee and delicious cakes (what diet?), TEaM members had the opportunity to sign up for a professional registration workshop with the Science Council and a selection of tours of: the Animal Unit, the Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery. As a thank-you for coming to the event, those who signed up had the first opportunity to book a place: any places left after that were advertised to the whole TEaM email list. Both the tours and the event proved really popular (80 people came to the event, and places on the workshop and tours went very quickly). We’re planning on holding the networking events every 3 months, and have new tours to offer at these, as well as a newsletter.
Thanks so much to everyone who came and we hope to have much more to offer you over the coming weeks and months, watch out for updates!
On Monday 20th February the Science Council was on campus to give a workshop to 17 technical staff about professional registration – how to apply, and what level (R. Sci. Tech, R. Sci or C. Sci) to apply for.
m the day was good; staff said that it was very useful and definitely helped with their applications. TEaM will definitely be gauging interest for another one at the next coffee & networking event.
The technical staff were encouraged to network over a buffet lunch and give their opinions at a variety of different discussion stands, including one where they voted on future TEaM events they’d like to see organised, by pipetting fluids into measuring cylinders – this being a technical event, there had to be an opportunity to show technical skills!
Lisa Grady, one of the TEaM steering group, said “The steering group were thrilled to see so many staff really engage with the group’s purpose and look forward to seeing that enthusiasm at our next events in the New Year”. Feedback from staff who attended was very positive, including comments that “…the whole event was an amazing opportunity to get to know different technicians around the university…” and “I feel like TEaM is a great way of showing people what we actually do…”