Thread by @UNITEGroup

We're delighted to be here at the beginning of our 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞!

The day is just starting @UniofNewcastle as we get ready for our excellent line-up of guest speakers.

We'll have updates throughout the day... 🧵

as we hear from Professor Iyiola Solanke, chair of the Unite Students Commission on Living Black at University, from @UniofOxford; Nicola Frampton from @StudentMindsOrg ; Osaro Otobo from @Halpin_HE ; Melissa Browne from @UniKent, Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed from @Unipol...

Rebecca O'Hare @UniversityLeeds; Jo Nuckley @oiahe; & Kerry Watson from #UniteStudents. The event, part of our 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 (lnkd.in/exr69BkN), includes topics such as belonging, mental health, employee training...

complaints and inclusive leadership. It's in partnership with @CUBO_Comms & @UniofNewcastle and our attendees include diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leads in the sector.

#LBUConference #LivingBlackAtUniversity #PBSA #studentaccommodation

Karan Khanna, our CCO kicks off our #LivingBlackatUniversityConference

"We remind ourselves why we are all here today, we will be hearing from some of our #LBU Commissioners, discussing some of the recommendations we have been focusing in on"

"We will also be hearing from @UniofNewcastle, who we have been partnering with on their Race Equality Charter.

"This, alongside our panel discussions, and Q&A, we hope, will give you the tools and inspiration to implement the recommendations in your own institution"

"This afternoon, we will be giving you a preview of our bespoke leadership training, Becoming an Inclusive Leader; giving you some of the knowledge and skills needed to create a place of belonging."

#LivingBlackatUniveristy #LBU @CUBO_Comms

“𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞”

Seyi, a 1st year Law student at the @unibirmingham & one of our @10000BI interns, bravely joins us to share his story of living in PBSA #LivingBlackatUniversity

“The #LivingBlackatUniversity research (commissioned by us & carried out by @Halpin_HE) showed a belonging gap of 18% between Black/Black British and White students”

Iyiola Solanke from @UniofOxford and our #LBU commission talks to us about belonging

"There’s no way students should have to experience this in the 21st century. Student accommodation provides such a central role in making sure students feel comfortable in the classroom as well."

"Feeling like you belong at university, simply defined as you’re meant to be there – that it’s designed with you in mind – should really be something that every students should take for granted, but sadly many Black students don’t feel that way." #LBU

📓 You can read more about the #LivingBlackatUniveristy research reports and findings on Belonging in section 3.1 of the report here: unitegroup.com/living-black-a…

@Halpin_HE
#LivingBlackatUniversityConference

💬Our talks are in full swing as we hear from @Rebecca_ResLife (@UniversityLeeds), Melissa Browne (@UniKent), Nicola Frampton (@StudentMindsOrg), Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed (@Unipol) and Jo Nuckley from Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education

#LBU

Victoria from @Unipol tells us: "staff working in front-line roles should have more detailed training with opportunities to discuss allyship and microaggressions. A new module is being created that will give an intro to #DEIB & race allyship." #LBU

💬"Consider the complaints you do get in this space and look at how you can drive these to push forward change. Look for the complaints you don’t get and why it doesn’t get through to you. Voices aren’t getting into the formal spaces they should" shares Jo

We're back after our Q&A and short break🥐 and are now thrilled to be joined by Kerry Watson, our Regional Student Support Manager.

Kerry discusses our #ResLife team, our Resident Ambassadors and how they can support our #LivingBlackatUniversity work 🫂

Kerry discusses our wider #Diversity, #Equity, #Inclusion, #Belonging (#DEIB) and #Wellbeing work including our 'Support to Stay' student support framework and the importance of trust building, consistency, shared working and training
unitegroup.com/articles/suppo…

Our 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 has been full of talks & discussions so far. It's providing delegates with the opportunity to better understand findings&recommendations from our Living Black at University report: lnkd.in/exr69BkN

Its findings, last year, found 54% of Black students surveyed report being the victim of some form of racism in their accommodation. 64% of student respondents have witnessed acts of racism.
75% of Black students report some level of impact on their mental health due to racism.

Thank you to everyone who asked our guest panel questions during our live Q&A session #LivingBlackatUniversityConference

We're now back with our #student panel to discuss the Black student belonging gap and what good practice really looks like! #LBU

@jennyshaw, our HE Engagement Director hosted an interactive session on implementing actions.

Here's a little glimpse into what our guests discussed 👇

@jennyshaw Our student panel reiterated the importance of having easy access to culturally relevant services like hair care, food and makeup close to where they live - something 28% of Black respondents told us about in our #LBU research with @Halpin_HE

@jennyshaw @Halpin_HE We're ending the day with our interactive inclusive leadership training taster session hosted by our diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and #wellbeing team #DEI

#LivingBlackatUniversity #LivingBlackatUniversityConference

We released our #LBU research findings with @Halpin a year ago which identified that 73% of respondents reported having heard other students make racist remarks.

Findings like these are challenging, but it’s important that we have this knowledge in order to be able to respond.

As such, we called on universities & student accommodation providers to collaborate across the Higher Education sector and take meaningful action in order to address these issues. Today, we did just that with our #LivingBlackatUniversityConference. Thank you to all our guests...

that joined us today & contributed towards our session & thank you to our partners @CUBO_Comms & @UniofNewcastle.

In addition, thank you to all of our amazing guest speakers including Professor Iyiola Solanke (chair of the Unite Students Commission on #LBU, from @UniofOxford)...

Nicola Frampton (@StudentMindsOrg ); Osaro Otobo (@Halpin_HE ); Melissa Browne (@UniKent); Victoria Tolmie-Loverseed (@Unipol); @Rebecca_ResLife O'Hare (@UniversityLeeds); Jo Nuckley (@oiahe); and Kerry Watson from Unite Students. unitegroup.com/living-black-a…