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Sussex and Brighton team up to #BreaktheBias for International Women’s Day on 8 March
By: Sean Armstrong
Last updated: Monday, 7 March 2022
The Universities of Sussex and Brighton are co-hosting an online panel event to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022.
This year’s IWD theme is #BreaktheBias, calling for a gender equal world that’s free of stereotypes and discrimination. We’re delighted to announce a panel of speakers from Brighton and Sussex who will share and discuss their experience of breaking the bias. This will be followed with a general panel discussion and Q&A.
We’re also inviting the Sussex community to recognise and celebrate women who #BreaktheBias. Share the names of the women who inspire you and a short reason why on our interactive board.
About the event
The panel will take place on Zoom on Tuesday 8 March, 9.30am – 11am and is open to all.
This event is a joint venture organised by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Units at Sussex and Brighton. The chair of the panel will be Ruth Whittaker, PVC for Education and Students and Gender Equality lead at University of Brighton.
Speakers include:
- Hannah Mason-Bish - Sussex Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology (Sociology), co-chair carers’ network (gender studies, violence, intersection of disability and gender). Over the last 15 years she has developed interests in misogyny, hate crime and the intersections of disability and gender. Her recent research looked at how disabled women and non-binary people experience non-consensual touching in public places. She has also advised on government policy related to hate crime at a national and international level.
- April (Ama) Frimpong – University of Sussex alumna, MChem Chemistry (Hons) and Data Engineer for the Bank of England. Ama graduated from the University of Sussex in 2016 with a Masters in Chemistry. After working for Explore Learning as an Assistant Director for just under a year, she moved to a more technical role as a Data Engineer for the Kubrick Group. Ama worked on site at the Bank of England as a contractor for two years, before moving into a permanent position with the bank.
- Sufia Begum – University of Brighton Student Union President. Sufia is the lead spokesperson for external media for BSU and sits on the University of Brighton’s Board of Governors and a wide range of committees to represent the student voice at the highest level.
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Sanaz Fallahkhair is a Principal Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction at the University of Brighton and a member of the Centre for Secure, Intelligent and Usable Systems, and the Centre for Digital Media Cultures. Sanaz publicly advocates for women in STEMM, seeking to engage with social communities and younger generations through social media.
How to attend
Register in advance for this webinar.
OTHER EVENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY:
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and the Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technologies and Health (CORTH) are co-hosting an online book launch event: Childlessness in Bangladesh - Dr Papreen Nahar in conversation.
BSMS' Dr Papreen Nahar, Senior Research Fellow (Medical Anthropology and Global Health), will discuss her new book: Childlessness in Bangladesh: Intersectionality, Suffering and Resilience, in conversation with Prof Maya Unnithan, Director of CORTH, and Prof Trudie Gerrits, Co-director of the Masters in Medical Anthropology and Sociology (MAS) at the University of Amsterdam.
Free and open to all, this book launch event will appeal to anyone with an interest in anthropology, reproductive and women’s health, global health, gender studies, development studies and Asian studies.
This event will take place on Zoom on Tuesday 8 March, from 1pm - 2pm
The School of Engineering and Informatics and the School of Life Sciences are co-hosting an online event as part of series of talks for staff wellbeing within Life Sciences: Women’s health: Why do we suffer so much with our hormones?
This session will be led by Karen Newby, a Brighton-based nutritionist with over 11 years clinical experience focusing on women’s and children’s health.
Karen will be speaking about hormones and some key factors which can cause this delicate system to become out of balance. There will also be a section on foods which can help specific symptoms such as PMS, cramping, migraine and sleep disturbances. The session, which includes lots of practical tips, will include a Q&A.
This event will take place on Zoom on Tuesday 8 March, from 1pm - 2pm.
Organisational Development are offering a wide range of IWD events and resources in the coming weeks. This includes:
- LinkedIn Learning courses:
- Fighting Gender Bias at Work is a 15-minute course that gives a brief overview of the different types of biases that impact women in the workplace.
- Becoming a Male Ally at Work, is a slightly longer course which includes practical tips on how men can support female colleagues and improve gender equality in the workplace.
- Let’s Break the Stigma of the Menopause Q&A session (8 March, 1pm - 2pm)
- Women and Apprenticeships session (8 March, 12pm - 1pm)
- Why the Menopause Matters: Raising Awareness of the Menopause in the Workplace workshop (14 March, 10am - 12pm)
School of Engineering and Informatics
• Staff have created a week-long exhibition of women in Engineering and Informatics to highlight the many contributions and achievements of women from around the world. This display will be on our digital display boards and outside the Chichester I Lecture Theatre until 9 March. Please go along and take a look.
• The team has created a webpage with the Career Timelines of their academic staff. These timelines illustrate the career progression of some of their faculty members showing their commitment to diversity and inclusion. View them here under IWD banner.
Research Hive presents: Picture a Scientist
Join the Research Hive for a film night to watch the film Picture A Scientist! It’s infuriating, inspiring and mind-blowing all in the span of 1 hour and 43 minutes.
Picture A Scientist is a documentary of leading female scientists discussing the inequalities they’ve faced as they write a new chapter in STEM for women. This film would be relevant for all researchers, including those not in STEM fields, and the team looks forward to seeing you.
This event starts at 7pm and is open to everyone, but will be streamed using using Teleparty which is restricted to Netflix subscribers. If you're interested and don't subscribe, please email us at researchhive@sussex.ac.uk.
School of Life Sciences podcasts
As part of their International Women's Day celebrations, the School of Life Sciences has created a series of podcasts with former Sussex scientists who have progressed onto a range of interesting science careers. Listen to the podcasts on the School of Life Sciences webpage.
FemFest: 7 - 13 March 2022
Brighton's female, trans and non-binary led arts festival celebrating International Women's Day each year. Female led and designed to be a space for women and people who have a lived experience of misogyny to perform and engage with work in a safe and supported space.