Topic Hub: Inclusion and diversity
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we interviewed a few remarkable women in the knowledge exchange (KE) sector to gain insight into their experiences, achievements, and the challenges they have overcome in their careers. This blog series highlights their views and stories, showcasing the incredible contributions women continue to make in KE. Join us as we celebrate their journeys and recognise the pivotal roles they play in shaping the future of knowledge exchange.
This blog is written by Jaci Barnett, a Course Director at Knowledge Exchange UK (KEUK).
Jaci Barnett, Chief Operating Officer at Oxford University Innovation, brings over 20 years of experience in research commercialisation and technology transfer. Jaci Barnett has managed tech transfer offices, launched innovation initiatives, and held executive and non-executive roles in spinouts. A Registered Technology Transfer Professional, Jaci Barnett is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Bristol on spinout impact metrics.
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we interviewed a few remarkable women in the knowledge exchange (KE) sector to gain insight into their experiences, achievements, and the challenges they have overcome in their careers. This blog series highlights their views and stories, showcasing the incredible contributions women continue to make in KE. Join us as we celebrate their journeys and recognise the pivotal roles they play in shaping the future of knowledge exchange.
This blog is written by Christine Martin, a Course Director at Knowledge Exchange UK (KEUK).
Christine Martin is Head of Life Science Investment with a focus on drug discovery, managing a portfolio of technologies from University of Cambridge spin-outs. With extensive experience in life sciences tech transfer, she has worked on key projects, including the University of Cambridge-GSK open innovation initiative. Christine Martin holds an MA and DPhil from the University of Oxford and has authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and patents.
It’s been a few months since that hugely powerful session at this year’s PraxisAuril Conference when we gave the prime plenary slot on the final day over to a discussion on Diversity in KE. It was a real privilege to Chair a session in which four brilliant speakers spoke so candidly from the heart about their own experiences – and which then quickly developed into one of the most fast and furious Zoom chats I’ve ever experienced, with a very large audience participating enthusiastically in the discussion! [You can still watch that recording HERE]. Such energy from PraxisAuril members and the KE sector at large to get involved and support the EDI agenda – truly inspiring.
So, what are we doing to harness and build on the momentum that was created at conference and use PraxisAuril’s convening and dissemination powers to best effect? We held the first in a series of ‘Action4EDI in KE’ round table discussions online last week, with a group of about 40 participants inputting ideas and sharing examples of the work that they have been involved with to raise awareness and find solutions to EDI-related challenges in their own organisations. Unsurprisingly, none of the attendees were employed in roles that were 100% EDI related, but a high proportion were taking additional responsibility in their day jobs for EDI-related projects. It was so valuable to hear examples from many organisations working very hard to surface, challenge and address EDI-related issues in our KE context – and hugely encouraging to see that there are already so many successful initiatives underway.
There’s a clear appetite for more discussion and more action and my task now is to distil last week’s wide-ranging discussion into a proposed schedule of activities to support PraxisAuril members to engage and share best practice in this area. Many different themes emerged during our first discussion (as well as some top tips!) but it seems to me that ‘consistency of data’ and ‘encouraging participation’ might be the first areas that we will focus in on for our next discussion. We have a further follow up round table scheduled for Friday 26 November / 1100-1300, so do put that date in your diary. I plan to involve some invited speakers to kick start our discussions at that meeting and will keep you posted as those plans firm up. In the meantime, I’ll also be looking at some of the other initiatives we mentioned, such as surveying our sector, establishing an online resource centre, and speaking with colleagues and volunteers about focussed workshops and webinars. If you would like to volunteer some of your time to work with me and colleagues across the PraxisAuril network to lead on or contribute to any aspect of the above, just drop me a line!
Maxine Ficarra
CEO, PraxisAuril