News and Events

Dr Candace Veecock (School of Education and English) gave a talk Black History Month: What is it? Why is it celebrated? on 24 Nov, 2021. Black History Month is an annual observance, officially celebrated in the United States (since 1970), in the United Kingdom (since 1987) and in Canada (since 1995). In North America, Black History Month is celebrated every year during the month of February. In the United Kingdom, it is celebrated during the month of October. Dr Veecock’s short talk has provided an overview of the historical context from which Black History Month observations have emerged and critically discuss its relevance today. 

Following the talk, participants were invited to enjoy a screening of the 2016 movie Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures is based on the true story of Black American female mathematicians who worked for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the 1960s. The movie stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst. 

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) is an inclusive and respectful campus. Being a student in UNNC, you will find yourself among a diverse community. The lecture was held on 27 Oct which provided an opportunity for UNNC students to understand general knowledge about sexual harassment, identify inappropriate behaviors that constitute sexual harassment, learn how to handle issues related to this topic, and avoid misunderstandings especially in different cultural contexts. 

Conflict may not happen very often in the workplace, but when it happens and is not dealt with effectively, it may have significant negative impact on productivity, morale and wellbeing. In a multicultural workplace, the situation can be further complicated due to different ways of acting, perceiving, thinking and feeling. Drawing on her empirical research in conflict communication in multicultural workplaces in China, Dr Du Ping explored the following issues with the participants in a dialogic format. The participants are also welcome to contribute relevant issues in addition to this list:

 •  How is conflict perceived, experienced and resolved?

•   How is culture defined? What role does it play in conflict communication?

•   What is the difference between conflict and disagreement?

•   Can conflict be a constructive process?

•   What are the effective strategies for conflict communication/resolution?

Racism is a sensitive topic which will make people uncomfortable, frown, shrug, or maybe snoot. However, it is an important issue in International Higher Education that we educators should confront and discuss. 

In this talk, Dr. Lily Cai shared her thoughts and experience, as well as stories from colleagues and friends about racism in higher education. She discussed inequality, policy-making, emancipatory system, racial justice, racially inclusive campus, and campus culture by exploring below questions together with participants:

1. What is campus culture?

2. Do we encounter bias (unconscious, reverse) and microaggression such as racial slurs in our daily university life?

3. Is racism ingrained in higher education, and if yes, how?

4. And finally, how can we inform and influence policymaking in promoting anti-racism?  

These topics have drown lots of discussion and knowledge exchanges from colleagues, and we look forward to your futur participation as well! 

Our very first EDI Week has successfully completed with participation from more than 300 students and staff. All the nice pictures taken for our week-long events and slides can be find here. Please feel free to take a look and promote the feedback survey among your colleagues and faculty, which will help us to do better in future activities.

Looking forward to your involvement in future activities as well!  

We would like to send you all our very best wishes in recognition of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2021. The IWD 2021 campaign theme is #ChooseToChallenge. A challenged world can drive positive changes. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can call choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help to create an inclusive world. Raise your hand show you are in by striking the ‘choose to challenge’ pose and share on social media using #ChooseToChallenge or send it to the IWD image website. You can find our UNNC #ChooseToChallenge pose at here. 

UNNC women make a real difference to many lives, through their teaching, research, leadership and participation. This year, we have exciting programmes of online and in person events in UK, China and Malaysia, not only celebrate the achievements of our UNNC women, but also to promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the campuses. For events in UNNC, please access this link. Online events in UNUK could be found here where staff from other campuses can also participate some of the events. We look forward to your involvement and both females and males are welcome!

Wherever our women staff and students find themselves on 8th March 2021, we would like to say a big “Thank You”. Everyone is in our thoughts, and we wish you all health and happiness on this international day of celebration. A tri-campus message can be find at campus news here.

With the aim of developing an inclusive and supportive professional working environment, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee has established a series of events titled  'EDI Dialogue'. This platform will increase EDI awareness and engagement in UNNC and across campus, acknowledge progress that has been made, and discuss challenges that we continue to face.

The EDI Dialogue covers a wide range of topics, and we welcome all staff members to come and share our thoughts on EDI issues. The first event was delivered by Prof May TAN-MULLINS, focusing on the prevention of sexual harassment, took place on Friday 22nd January, slides can be found here.

In recent years, a variety of safety problems risen among university students. The lecture is held to raise students’ awareness of some safety issues in order to let students have safer college life. Prof May Tan-Mullins delivered a public talk on Preventative Guidelines Against Sexual Harassment on Multi-cultural Campuses, slides can be found here. 

 The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) is an inclusive and respectful campus. Being a student in UNNC, you will find yourself among a diverse community. The lecture was held on 20 Oct which provided an opportunity for UNNC students to learn about the general concepts of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and issues of sexual harassment, identifying inappropriate behaviors, how to prevent sexual harassment and avoid misunderstandings especially in different cultural contexts.

 Lecture materials of EDI general introdcution can be accessed here, lecture materials of Anti-Sexual Harassment can be found here. 

Due to the impact of Covid-19, celebrations activities for staff and students are unable to proceed on campus. However, we would like to take this opportunity to recognise the brilliant contribution that our women staff and students make across all campuses. Our amazing women colleagues make a real difference to many lives, through their teaching, research, leadership and participation. Wherever our women staff and students find themselves on 8th March 2020, we would like to say a big “Thank You”. Everyone is in our thoughts, and we wish you all health and happiness on this international day of celebration.

IWD Event

2019 International Women Digital Campaign

PPT Slides