| ISE EDI Conference 2022 - Agenda |
Many thanks to all those who attended the EDI Conference 2022. We will shortly be uploading copies of the presentations. Keynote speaker
Lee Elliot Major is Britain’s first Professor of Social Mobility, based at the University of Exeter. He was previously Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust. His work is dedicated to improving the prospects of disadvantaged children and young people. He works closely with school leaders, universities, and employers as well as Government policy makers. His Penguin book Social Mobility and Its Enemies has attracted attention across the world and widely acknowledged as one of the seminal texts on the topic. Lee is one of the most prominent public voices in national education debates – recently described “as quite a remarkable bloke” on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He regularly advises the Government on education and social mobility, and has championed several major policy reforms to improve the prospects for disadvantaged young people. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and serves on the Strategic Advisory Network of the Economic and Social Research Council. He was awarded an OBE in the 2019 Queen’s Honours. He is the first in his family to go to university.
Keynote session Improving social mobility prospects in the pandemic era How can we level the playing field in the post pandemic era? The Covid pandemic has exposed and exacerbated inequalities inside and outside education. Lee will discuss findings from several research projects to document growing divides in life prospects for current generations, but also point to promising policies and practices in education and the workplace that have the potential to improve prospects for disadvantaged children and young people.
Conference sessions Diversity & Tokenism: what do students really think? Lisa Marris, Head of Research, Cibyl with a panel of students Cibyl is a market research consultancy focused on helping employers hire better by researching students career interests, motivations and expectations. The session will be drawing upon research from three annual studies conducted by Cibyl:
Collectively these studies survey over 85,000 students across the UK. The session will explore the following topics with a panel of students:
Feeling safe to tell our stories. How Rolls-Royce creates an environment of inclusivity and safety to ensure candidates bring their true self into the assessment process Lauren Cunningham, Client Operations Director – Early Careers & Campus, AMS Join Rolls-Royce and AMS for this exciting session that will focus on the steps they have taken to ensure a high level of psychological safety, inclusivity and encouragement of candidates to share their stories when applying for an Early Careers role at Rolls-Royce. From attraction through to assessment and onboarding, Rolls-Royce and AMS have partnered to ensure the ever-growing pool of diverse candidates not only feel safe and comfortable to be themselves at Rolls-Royce, but that their differences are celebrated and sought after. Through a combination of discussions and real-life video examples from the 2022 campaign, co-presenters Ellie Long, Head of Campaigns and Diversity at Rolls-Royce, and Lauren Cunningham, Early Careers & Campus Director at AMS, will provide a variety
of effective and engaging strategies aligned to this topic. A hands-on approach to EDI in graduate recruitment Jonathan Lu, VP and GM Europe, Handshake Handshake will host a fireside chat with an early careers employer and member of university careers services, to have an in-depth discussion around the key successes each of them has had with their approach to EDI. From an employer point of view, they will probe their success story: understanding their goals, how they’ve used technology to achieve them (and any wraparound EDI tactics alongside it) and what their aspirations for the future are. Similarly, we’ll speak to the university partner about their own experiences with EDI, how they engage with students from diverse backgrounds, common themes and challenges, and how they’ve seen a positive impact on the hiring of their students. We will also touch on considerations of diversity beyond race and gender, including socio-economic background. We’ll also ask our guests how they use data to help them achieve their goals. Finally, the presenters will share their top pieces of advice/key takeaways with the audience, leaving everyone with actionable insights and steps they can take back to their organisations.
How to recruit and retain diverse talent with futureproof & Sanctuary Graduates, plus insights from female associate Farzana Uddin! Sophie Hebdidge, Academy Director, futureproof futureproof’s (FP) mission is to resolve the widening technical skills gap within the UK, through helping the best, most diverse talent build the tech of tomorrow. FP does this through its free 13-week coding course & subsequent 2-year placement. Sanctuary Graduates and FP have been partnered since 2019, supporting one another to achieve this mission. In this time, we have grown from just 3-5 cohorts of 10-15 students to placing 20+ students onto the course every month. The panel session will cover two key areas:
You will hear from both the employers and students involved in this process and will learn about the various barriers that diverse students face in the recruitment process and how to overcome them.
Smashing through the invisible barriers that continue to hold early talent back Lloyd Stephenson, Global Director of Inclusion & Diversity and Recruitment, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP We all know that EDI is something we need to solve for. As a business community, we know that EDI helps organisations thrive. But the solutions to date, as adopted by the majority, has often been to rely on surface level frameworks as the solution. Businesses are increasingly using data which outlines someone’s background, ethnicity and circumstances to hire - working to bring these demographic groups into the workforce. This is a necessary step forward and data should continue to be a core element enabling EDI - but an authentic, long-lasting and impactful solution is a multi-tethered endeavour. If we truly want to create a diverse workforce in a way that empowers all forms of talent and does away with ‘lever-pulling’ levelling endeavours, business needs to start thinking creatively about access to smash through the invisible (or not so invisible) barriers that continue to hold diverse talent back. Join Phil Gbormittah (UK/EMEA Partnerships, Forage), Lloyd Stephenson (Global Director of Inclusion, Diversity & Recruitment, BCLP), Sue Hergest (Early Careers Recruitment Manager, Pfizer) and Katherine Leopold (Faculty Employability Lead, Co-Chair Women’s Network, University of Greenwich), for a panel discussion on how they think differently about access, and the importance of access for early talent in driving diverse talent pipelines.
"You'll never get anywhere in life with an accent like that." Finding and polishing the rough diamonds Graham Philpott, Head of Careers Consultancy, University of Reading Whatever aspect of D&I we are considering, it's students who are also from disadvantaged backgrounds that usually have the worst outcomes, and these continue throughout their careers (Duta, Wielgoszewska, & Ianelli 2020). So how can we attract, select and integrate students from lower socio-economic backgrounds? These students are the least likely to understand the breadth of opportunities open to them and are also the most likely to think that 'people like me don't do X'. And when we've successfully got them to apply, how can we ensure that our selection techniques are unearthing their potential, rather than discriminating against their lack of polish? Once we have traversed these hurdles, we then need to integrate and develop them, whilst allowing them to maintain their authenticity, and ensure that the attitudes (conscious and unconscious) prevalent in the organisation don't act as barriers? This session will take a workshop format, so that the participants can learn from the successes (and failures) of others in the room, develop hypotheses, and co-create answers.
Breaking the mould: how different thinking has delivered different outcomes and diverse digital talent for Cognizant Dan Doherty, Senior Manager – Junior Lateral Recruitment, Cognizant Join Dan Doherty, Junior Lateral Recruitment Lead at Cognizant, along with James Fellowes of Bridge of Hope, to hear about how Cognizant’s different thinking on entry points and talent pools has enabled them to access the resilient, high potential tech talent needed for competitive advantage. By supplementing their apprentice and graduate hiring with an innovative “Junior Lateral Talent” stream, as well as partnering with Bridge of Hope to engage often overlooked but high-value talent pools, they have truly redefined what entry and junior level talent means for Cognizant. Dan will bring to life what “Junior Lateral Talent” means for Cognizant and why this new stream of talent is bringing in a new dimension of capability as well as new ways of thinking. James will then share their stories and explain how Bridge of Hope helps progressive employers access the hundreds of thousands of resilient, creative, loyal, job-ready people who are typically overlooked for employment because of their identity or history. They will also talk about how they have supported both Dan’s Junior Lateral Hiring as well as Cognizant’s graduate and apprentice hiring. Finally, Dan will share early results of their alternative talent pooling approach and take questions.
Bias, recruitment, and management: a case study in success Raphael Mokades, Founder and Managing Director, Rare Using original research spanning decades and content from Rare’s innovative anti-bias feedback software, Hemisphere, and in collaboration with employer partner, leading law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Rare will:
Rare will share a case study HSF about their approach to rolling out new EDI training and the response/impact that has had.
Ensuring fair recruitment practices to grow neurodiverse talent pools Nicky Garcea, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer, Cappfinity Neurodiversity refers to the different ways our brains are wired and process information. It can be used to describe alternative thinking styles such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Autism and ADHD. Whilst many neurodiverse thinking styles are often regarded as a learning difference, there are also a wealth of unique skills that come with it. Dyslexic people for example, have strong visual, creative and problem-solving skills. Approximately 15-20% of the population is neurodiverse, meaning there is a huge pool of talent just waiting to be discovered. In this session, Cappfinity Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer, Nicky Garcea will lead a panel discussion with a global talent leader who is leading the charge for neurodiversity within the talent pipeline.
AI Helping or Hindering Fairness Outcomes? Simon Davies, Solutions Director, EMEA, Modern Hire Will the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in talent assessment help or hinder fairness outcomes? Join Modern Hire to learn what AI is and its current adoption in selection and assessment. In this session they will explore AI and its talent applications for the future, and the principles of ethical AI usage.
I belong, I feel safe, I feel brave: ASPIRE to create inclusive cultures for Black and Black (mixed) heritage students Dr Iwi Ugiagbe-Green, Faculty Head of Award and Progression Gaps (Business & Law), Manchester Metropolitan University Accomplished study programme in research excellence (ASPIRE) People find it hard to talk about race and racism. It is often fear of saying the wrong thing and causing offence, that makes people uncomfortable. As educators, prospective employers & careers professionals we need to be comfortable having difficult conversations to progress; we need to create not just safe space, but brave spaces in which to have these conversations. Black people are not a monolith and do not have one universal experience. If employers are serious about attracting and retaining so called, ‘Black talent’ they must create conditions for change in which Black people feel they can be the version of themselves that they choose to be and feel a sense of belonging in the workplace. This work cannot be done superficially – it requires bravery to accept vulnerability and challenge the biases we all hold. We need to understand that there is no degree of empathy that will enable you to be the expert of someone else’s experience. In this session ASPIRE lead (Dr Iwi Ugiagbe-Green) will talk about the ways in which we have used creative connections and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) to create an inclusive culture in which we create not just psychological safety but brave space for the whole community (including white academic supervisors) to talk about and understand racism in the context of work.
Implicit Bias - Growth by Inclusion Steven Bodley, Head of Careers & Commercial, SFS Media SFS Media’s Steven Bodley welcomes you to delve deeper into how you can enhance the diversity of candidates in your early careers pipeline through measuring your EDI, empowering you, so you can build a strategy to attract new and diverse talent. Understanding how implicit bias affects your early careers strategy, what is it? Why is it important to acknowledge? and more importantly how this limits growth & diversity in your talent attraction. Steven will explore key & emerging trends from campaigns, and our Future careers pathway survey of over 5600 young people to unlock the barriers of reaching the hard to reach and provide a fresh approach to leveraging data. There will be continued thought provoking interactivity during the session to test where you are on your implicit bias journey.
How to create a proactive ED&I strategy by hiring for potential with behaviour-based assessments Robert Newry, Co-Founder and CEO, Arctic Shores
Will we look back in horror at our D&I metrics? Rebecca Fielding, MD, Gradconsult and ISE Fellow In a world of increasing fluidity around gender and sexuality why are we so wedded to boxes and labels? Could we even be causing harm by taking such an approach? Join Gradconsult to examine what we might be getting wrong and ideate alternatives that better suit our candidate's view of the world. In this innovation lab format, we question the framing of D&I metrics and explore the potential harms of boxes and labels to individuals, candidate experience and our employer brand. After setting the premise for the question attendees will be invited to discuss, ideate and generate innovative alternatives to our existing metrics. Key learnings and take-aways will include:
Final reflections and insight from ISE D&I Steering Group
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30/09/2024 » 30/04/2025
Employer in the Foyer - University of Chester
28/01/2025 » 27/03/2025
Employer Pop Up Stand - Cardiff Metropolitan University
Institute of Student Employers company registration number: 01042932.
Registered offices: BPF House, 6 Bath Place, Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3JE
Lee Elliot Major OBE FAcSS, Professor of Social Mobility, University of Exeter