This Friday 17 May is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. To find out more information about the day see here http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/
Category: Uncategorised
Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week this year runs between 13 and 19 May.
The theme for this year’s campaign, is physical activity and exercise, highlighting the impact they have on mental health and wellbeing.
Autistic Teenager Tipped for Nobel Prize
A teenager who was diagnosed with autism and told he would never be able to read has been tipped as a future Nobel prize winner.
Jacob Barnett, who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at two years old, is now studying for a Master’s degree in quantum physics.
Experts say the student from Indiana has an IQ higher than Albert Einstein’s.
His mother Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius, told BBC Breakfast she initially found it hard to get Jacob the right education.
More … http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22477958#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Time to Change (T2C) Videos
A collaborative project between Bournemouth University, the local Trust, Dorset Mental Health Forum and Dorset HealthWatch has produced a collection of 3 short films featuring people who live and work/study in Dorset sharing their stories of their personal recovery from mental health issues.
Speaking up – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 1
You can recover – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 2
Stronger, better, person – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 3
There is also an attitudes to mental health issues survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWD52K2) which aims to look at people’s experience to establish whether watching any of these videos has started to change or reinforce existing attitudes towards mental health issues.
ECU Update on Mental Health Support in HE
Last month ECU ran online surveys asking what HEIs can do to support staff and students experiencing mental health difficulties.
They received an overwhelming response, with 3500 staff and students completing the survey and say, “thank you to everyone who responded, and everyone who supported us by circulating and disseminating the survey.
We are currently analysing the results and will be conducting follow-up interviews with a selection of respondents in the coming months. We will also be conducting interviews with national and sector bodies interested in this work.
We will share the interim results in the summer, with a full report and supporting materials to follow.”
See their guidance on supporting staff and students experiencing mental health issues here:
Award Winning Screenplay a Knockout
A screenplay about a boxer’s fight against homophobia has landed two knockout blows for a University of Greenwich lecturer.
Dr Chris Brown’s script, Knock-Out, features a boxer who has to tackle the prejudice of the men at his sports club when they find out he is gay. It has won two awards in the last fortnight: Best Screenplay at the London Independent Film Festival, and the Cordelia Award for Best UK Script at the BlueCat screenplay competition. BlueCat is based in Hollywood, and run by writer-director Gordy Hoffman, brother of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. More … http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/news/articles/2012/a2611-boxing-film
Caste Discrimination to be Outlawed under Equality Act
The government has announced that caste discrimination will now be included as an aspect of race discrimination.
Business Secretary, Vince Cable, said caste would in future be treated as “an aspect of race”.
Read more about this story on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22267147
Matt Hampson’s April Blog
Find out what Matt and the foundation have been upto recently by listening to Matt’s blog.
Supporting Mothers to Become Clinician Scientists
Women in academic medicine face many practical difficulties when they have children.
The British Medical Journal have published findings based on a maternity survey carried out at Imperial College London. The aim of the survey was to assess the impact of maternity leave and being a mother on academic career progression.
Please find the link here: http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20011322
Employers Scoop Prizes for Gender Diversity Work
‘Opportunity Now’ has partnered with The Times to publish a ‘Top 50 Employers for Women’ list.
All organisations within the Top 50 “demonstrate that gender equality is an integral part of their business strategy, with consistent commitment to progressing women in the workplace that covers their entire organisation, not just isolated areas,” explained Opportunity Now.
Entries were marked against a framework of best practice and assessed anonymously by a team of gender diversity experts.
The alphabetical list features UK employers from a wide range of sectors, such as Ernst & Young, Google, HM Revenue & Customs, Marks & Spencer and Unilever.
Ernst & Young was recognised for its commitment to developing a female talent pipeline, and this year set a target that at least 30 per cent of all new UK partners are female. Liz Bingham, Ernst & Young’s managing partner for people in the UK and Ireland said: “Diversity is a business imperative. As well as being the right thing to do, we believe that by attracting and retaining the best talent and developing our people, we will ultimately deliver a better service to our clients.”
Read more about Opportunity Now here: http://opportunitynow.bitc.org.uk/node/59265.