Back when I was an undergraduate student of Mathematics I remember periodically receiving emails inviting me to a ‘Women in Maths’ event taking place within the department. Most of these events were targeted at early stage mathematicians (undergraduates, PhD students, and postdocs) who were women, and focused on their career. I never attended any of these events, actively selecting to ignore them instead. In this post I want to share some reasons why I avoided these events, and reflect on how I feel differently now.
Author Archives: Thalia
Voice and Influence Program, session 6: Power and Influence
This week’s Voice and Influence programme was on the topic of Power and Influence. We discussed various social signals that position someone in an authoritative “high” position, versus those for an approachable “low” position. There is a need to recognise when one position is more beneficial to you as an influential voice. As a rule-of-thumb, authoritative signals as a speaker and approachable signals as a listener.
Voice and Influence Program, session 5: Negotiation
In the fifth instalment of the Voice and Influence training we discussed negotiation. The session began with a video in which Professor Margaret Neale gave her best tips for negotiating successfully. The purpose of this video is to propose a new way of thinking about negotiation: most people view negotiation as an adversarial process, but Professor Neale wants to change the frame of thinking. Negotiation is problem solving, and problem solving is collaborative! A summary of the talk is given below.
Voice and Influence Program, session 4: mentoring
We had our fourth Voice and Influence session on the 28th February on mentoring, where we learnt how to develop successful mentoring relationships beneficial to both involved. Mentoring is important in academia, therefore this was very relevant to us.
Positive action in motion
What is the difference between positive action and positive discrimination?
“Positive action is when an employer takes steps to help or encourage certain groups of people with different needs, or who are disadvantaged in some way, access work or training. Positive action is lawful under the Equality Act. For example, an employer could organise an open day for people from a particular ethnic background if they’re under-represented in the employer’s workforce. This wouldn’t be unlawful discrimination under the Act.” (Citizens advice 2017)