Professional Services, Disability & Inclusive Research Cultures

This is a free event held fully online via Zoom.

Everyone is welcome to attend this event - and this may be especially relevant to those exploring inclusive research cultures, implementing inclusive practices or working with EDI, either inside or outside higher education. 

For this event, we will be presenting:

Beyond the Desk: How Professional Services Staff Shape Inclusive Research Culture

For this talk, we will draw upon our experiences as professional services colleagues to provide examples of inclusive practices related to the recruitment, employment, support, and retention of disabled researchers. 

By sharing our personal stories, we wish to illustrate the positive impact of incorporating disability-focused strategies into research culture, ultimately fostering an environment that supports disabled researchers and challenges ableism.

The recognition that university research cultures are exclusionary has become a prevalent topic in university discourse, leading to increased interventions aimed at promoting positive research culture, policy and practice.

However, disability and the perspectives of disabled researchers and professional services staff are often sidelined in discussions surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

Here we wish to highlight the efforts of multiple research projects based within iHuman, a research centre at the University of Sheffield, which seek to address this omission. Disability Matters and The Wellcome Trust Anti-Ableist Research Culture (WAARC) brings together professional services and academic staff to create and deliver a suite of activities centring disability. These projects imagine a culture in which disability is viewed as an asset and a driver for positive change. 

The format of this event will be:

• Introduction by Dan Goodley (5 minutes)

• Three x spoken stories (10 minutes x 3)

• Q&A and open discussion (25 minutes)

Total duration: 1 hour 

Speakers

Rhea Halsey
Project Manager, Disability Matters

Rhea is the Project Manager for Disability Matters and is crucial to it's day-to-day running, acting as the key liaison, leading on strategic planning, budget management, supporting with events, communications and outputs. She brings together our academic and professional services colleagues, as well as external community partners, to achieve the aims of the programme. 

Rhea has nine years of experience in project management and higher education. After finishing a History degree, she worked in a students' union and then in the digital sector, before joining the University of Sheffield in 2023. She enjoys learning about access and inclusivity, networking within the sector and exploring different approaches to workplace culture. 

Liz Dew
Project Manager, Wellcome Trust Anti-ableist Research Culture (WAARC)

Liz is the Project Manager for the Wellcome Trust Anti-ableist Research Culture project.

Liz loves doing work that is disruptive and has social justice at its heart. Before joining iHuman she managed a project that reunited Refugees with their family members, which led on from and intersected with work she did around equity and improvements in maternity services.

Liz enjoys talking to people about social justice and understanding the world in unconventional ways.

Lucy Dunning
Operations Manager, Social Research Institutes

Lucy is an Operations Manager supporting the strategic day-to-day functions for the Social Research Institutes at The University of Sheffield. She plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth functioning of iHuman, CIRCLE and the Urban Institute. In this role, Lucy oversees budget management, HR processes, health and safety, space and facilities coordination, and the implementation of departmental policies and procedures. She works closely with others to align operational practices with the department’s academic mission and institutional goals.

Prior to joining The University of Sheffield, she held roles at WWF and Auckland Council, gaining expertise in administration, HR and organisational management. Lucy holds a degree in Biology from Cardiff University, and is passionate about fostering inclusive, efficient, and high-performing academic environments.

Access

When you book a ticket, you will receive an email confirmation. You will receive a second reminder email closer to the event which will contain the Zoom video link. 

A BSL interpreter will be supporting this session. 

Live captioning is available via Zoom. Written copies of the speaker’s talks will be made available before the event on our website, Disability Matters Scholarship Collection.

Attendees are welcome to join or leave the event at any time. Participating in the Q&A and open discussion is optional.

A recording of the event will be made available afterwards on our website. 

If you have any questions about access, please email us at disabilitymatters@sheffield.ac.uk

Time zones

Disability Matters is a pan-national programme and we welcome attendees from all over the world.

Please check the time of the event according to your time zone as it may differ from what is listed above.

What do we mean by Professional Services?

Professional Services (or PS) is a term used in the UK to refer to staff members within higher education whose roles are typically non-academic. For this talk, we will refer to such staff members as Professional Services or PS.

What is Disability Matters?

Disability Matters is a major six year pan-national programme of disability, health and science research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award. A key ambition of Disability Matters is to make disability the driving subject of research. We will be running a range of events like this up until 2029.

Stay connected

You can keep in touch with us via the following:

Bluesky: @dismatters

Twitter/X: @DisMatters

Instagram: disability_matters

Website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ihuman/disability-matters

OR you can email us at disabilitymatters@sheffield.ac.uk 

Header image credit: original image by cottonbro studio @pexels