'Faces of Reading' - showcasing our diversity

Wednesday, 03 May 2017

Faces of Reading, a project aimed at showcasing the range and diversity of our staff, launched today.

We want to be a world-class, forward-looking, confident and ambitious university which recruits, supports and develops staff from a wide variety of backgrounds. Faces of Reading is an important part of that effort – helping us articulate the range of roles we offer, the people who perform some of these roles and what it is like to be a part of the University community.

The profiles that you will see on Faces of Reading are a first step in that direction. With your help, we want bring to life the story of our thriving community.

We are keen on representation from all parts of the University (in the UK and overseas), from a wide variety of roles and career stage and from a diverse staff body, including diversity of protected characteristics and background.

If you would like to suggest yourself or a colleague as a ‘Face’, please write to us at faces@reading.ac.uk by 31 May 2017, stating:

• your name or the name of the colleague
• the role that you or the colleague performs at the University
• in 50 words or less, why you/they should be ‘Face’ of Reading

We will get back to you within three weeks of the nomination  to let you know whether we are following up on your suggestion. Participation in this project is entirely voluntary and each ‘Face’ chosen will have a final approval on their profile – nothing will be published without express written permission.

Through this project, we want:

• to raise awareness amongst prospective employees and our own staff and students of the range of roles across the University.
• to reflect that our workforce is diverse, not least with respect to the various protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 – including gender, race and ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, faith and religion.
• to convey a message that there are a variety of ways of working for us, including full-time, part-time, sessional, temporary/permanent/casual, and including examples of staff who have worked flexibly, and who have been with us through maternity, shared parental leave, or other caring responsibilities.
• to promote the University as an interesting, attractive and varied place to work.
• to help the University attract the widest range of diverse applicants for vacancies, and help the University achieve its targets for diversifying its workforce, as articulated in February 2016 by the Vice Chancellor.