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Diversity team

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What?

The project "Facultaire Verankering" of the diversity policy fits within the aims of the Strategic Plan. To this end, a diversity team is established per faculty, with the assignment to design the diversity policy at facultary level.

Who?

This diversity team consists of a fixed core of employees (ZAP, OAP and ATP) and students interested in the diversity team.

The team has a diversity coordinator (ZAP), who takes part in the universitary Workgroup Diversity & Gender, one or more contactpersons (OAP and/or ATP) , other cooperators (ZAP, OAP, ATP) and students.

Composition of the Diversityteam

Actual events

Taalcafé @ Faculty of Sciences

Is an occasion to exchange languages on a meet and greet event on Friday after work

You can practice your Dutch or any other language at different levels. Join a table where you can communicate with native speakers and learners.

Get informed about Dutch language requirements and Dutch learning facilities at Ghent University.

Snacks and drinks will be served.

Where? Campus Sterre, S2, third floor, faculty board room.

Please register for any of the scheduled events and indicate which languages you want to practice and learn and for which language you offer help to others.

The upcoming events are on:

  • 21st of April, 16:00 – 19:00
  • 12th May, 16:00 – 19:00
  • 16th June, 16:00 – 19:00
    Registration from 05-06-2023 10:00 until 14-06-2023 16:00

Feel free to bring friends and colleagues, there are two session of 50 minutes with breaks before, in between and after (where you can also try out different languages). 

Events in the past

Impact of war on science and biodiversity

Academia should ideally be an open world where knowledge is exchanged constantly and in all places.  Researchers should collaborate to generate data and answer scientific questions.
However, conflicts and wars within and between countries are still a sad reality in 2023.  These events have significant impacts on the mobility and collaboration of scientists. 

To address this issue, the Faculty of Sciences Diversity Team and Biology students hosted an event (28 March 2023) on the impact of war on science and researchers, as part of the Ghent University Diversity & Inclusion Month in March 2023.

Introductory lecture by Adrian GarsideA panel discussion on the impact of war on science was preceded by two lectures focussing on the impact of war on biodiversity and ecosystems.
The first lecture was given by Prof. Adrian Garside (King’s College, London). He has a lot of experience with fieldwork in conflict zones, mainly South-Sudan, which was also the focus in his presentation.
A second lecture about the situation in Ukraine was given by Olesya Petrovych, project manager at WWF Ukraine. Her presentation was about the general impact of the ongoing war on nature, zooming in on particular nature reserves.

The difference between the impact of war on biodiversity in those two cases is remarkable. The conflict in South-Sudan is a ‘low budget’, slow conflict where the environment remains intact, even offering regeneration possibilities for nature because people pull out of the conflict zone. This is in stark contrast with the war in Ukraine, where forests are burned because they can be a military advantage to the defender and where artillery is deployed, the use of which leaves large holes in the ground as scars on the land.
moderator Peter Verlinden and the panel members, left to right: Adrian Garside, Olesya Petrovych, Amaury Frankl, Emnet NegashAfter these interesting introductory lectures, both speakers also participated in the panel discussion, that was led by Peter Verlinden, a VRT journalist with a lot of experience in African conflicts. The other two panel members were members of the Ghent University Geography department.
Prof. dr. Amaury Frankl, whose research focusses on erosion, leads research projects all around the world, amongst others in Ethiopia.
The last panel member was Emnet Negash, an Ethiopian PhD student coming from the Tigray region, which is the region strongly affected by a civil war.

During the panel discussion, 6 subjects were discussed, ranging from the ethical considerations about doing research in conflict areas, to the importance of international cooperation in the context of research in times of war.
Our 4 panel members all had a very different background, this led to diverse opinions about some subjects, and made the panel more interesting. Peter Verlinden guided the discussion well, and added some questions where the discussion allowed it.

time for a pleasant reception after a heavy discussion

FACE 2 FACE winter edition

We invited two of our recently hired ZAP-members for a duo-lecture: Prof. Michal Heller and Prof. Griet Neukermans to learn about marine ecology and theoretical physics in a relaxed and informal setting and meet the scientists behind the science. (took place on Tuesday 20 December 2022, 16:00 at Campus Sterre, S2, 3th floor, faculty board room)

Face2Face Winter Edition 20/12/2022

Autism

On Friday 1st of April we invited Dr. Theo Bakker for a lecture “Inclusion of students with autism in the Faculty of Sciences”. This lecture is partly based on input, questions and testimonies from people from our faculty. The link to the recorded lecture will follow.

For support in the work field for people with ASS (Vlaams ondersteuningspremie) see https://www.vlaanderen.be/werken-met-een-beperking.

We refer also to this Nerdland podcast with testimonies from scientists with autism.

Unacceptable behaviour

On Wednesday 11/05/2022 van 12:00 – 13:15 u. , Lore Vermeulen and Pieter Detombe (Trustpunt) and Sylvia D’hooge (Juridische dienst) reported about the procedures and possibilities with a.o. unacceptable behaviour.
The presentation of this session is available in Dutch as well as in English.

Ukraine #WEtogether

We are shocked about what is happening in Ukraine and want to oppose war and the loss of freedom. As a faculty, we keep underlining the importance of international cooperation and diversity. Of course, our thoughts and condolences go first and foremost to the victims and the people who are suddenly living in a different and terrible reality. But we realize that this situation has an impact on everyone, regardless of nationality. The new era of freedom that we had been looking forward to after the pandemic is not real freedom. All we can do now is show great solidarity.

On Wednesday 23rd March we organized a  POP-UP BRAINSTORM UKRAINE EVENT. You can find the report here.

For FAQ’s impact of war in Ukraine : https://www.ugent.be/en/facilities/war-ukraine/faq.htm

For psychological support, we refer to the official helpline: ucare@ugent.be

For all actions organized by Ghent University: https://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/hulpacties-oekraine

Actions to raise funding for Ukraine by our faculty organized so far:

  • Symbolic action mouthmasks
  • Pancakes for Peace, organized by Dept. of Geography, on Friday 25 March 2022.
  • Selling donuts and coffee at Campus Sterre and Ledeganck, Thursday 31 March 2022.
  • Easter eggs for Ukraine, from Monday 28 March 2022 until Easter
  • Docu night Ukraine: Winter on Fire, Wednesday 20 April 2022, Ledeganck.
  • Quiz on Thursday 5 May, organized by the Dept. of Biology
  • Coffee stand & get-together @S5 (Campus Sterre) on Tuesday 10 May 2022: Coffee, donuts and pastries, being together, talking with each other and writing about our feelings and emotions.
  • Benefit party & concert @S5 (Campus Sterre)on Wednesday 11 May 2022 from 7.00 pm – midnight
    Chilli sin carne, drinks, music, lots of friends and colleagues and at 8.30 pm an exclusive performance of Stoneage Romeos with Joeri Delamane (student administration officer at the Faculty) as lead singer!

In the Dept. of Biology, internships for refugees are offered. Maybe this flyer can inspire you to offer similar internships/trainings in your department.

 

More information for those who want to work with refugees can be found on the following pages: