Laura Scaife
The University of Nottingham’s Diversity Festival is back for the second year and this time most of the events can be attended in person. The festival is from Monday 13th June until Friday 24th June, and there are lots of fun events you can visit from launch day stalls, keynote speeches, to free food samples and much more. Here to highlight some of the events is Impact’s Laura Scaife.
The catering teams are offering free food sampling
The festival will begin with the launch day on Monday 13th June from 11am until 3pm in the Portland building. The festival will be launched by Dr Robert Mokaya, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Global Engagement, and next year’s Liberation Officer, Ife Oyedeji, with a video shared on the Portland mega screen at the Djanogly terrace.
From there you can head into the Studio in Portland next to the Mooch Bar to see stalls, live performances and the Language Cafe. The catering teams are offering free food sampling from 11am to 3pm in the Portland food hall and there will also be refreshments in the Studio.
On Tuesday, there are two Keynote discussions that students can get involved in. The first is titled Social and Economic Challenges: Into, In and Out of Higher Education at the Djanogly Theatre – Lakeside Arts from 10:30-12:00. This will be a panel discussion on the challenges students may face when beginning university, during their time at university or when they finish their degrees. It will be chaired by Professor Sarah Speight, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education and Student Experience, with students, staff and alumni forming the rest of the panel, including our current Liberation Officer Sultan Chaudhury, and current students Abie Whitehead and Rebecca Craven.
The second keynote will also be at the Djanogly Theatre and is titled Acknowledging Racism: Towards Inclusivity And Change. The keynote will be another panel discussion chaired by Chancellor Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE and will be on from 14:30-16:00 and will discuss how the University can become an anti-racist institution.
No longer on campus? Don’t worry the events will be live streamed so you can enjoy the keynotes from the comfort of your own home. You can register for the keynotes here.
There is so much to do during the Diversity Festival
As well as the Festival Launch and the Keynotes, there will also be a range of events for you to get involved in throughout the festival. There will be free food samples throughout the event and URN are producing both live broadcasts and mixtapes featuring music from around the world for you to enjoy.
In the pavilion café at Lakeside Arts, there will be an exhibition titled “Crowns: an Exhibition Celebrating Hair and Head Coverings“ to raise awareness and celebrate the hair and head coverings of our Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority students and staff and our diverse religious communities.
Finally there are talks and events for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and neurodiverse students, such as the living library where you can meet people from different faiths and discuss their experiences.
The full list of events is available here.
There is so much to do during the Diversity Festival, with something for everyone. I hope lots of you will be inspired to come along and celebrate the diversity of our University, try some new food, meet other students and attend some of the events. Even if you are at home, many of the events will also be available online so you can still join in.
Laura Scaife
Featured image courtesy of University of Nottingham. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In- article image 1 courtesy of University of Nottingham. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
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