I was very pleased to be able to deliver this conference workshop with Lilinaz as a pre-conference workshop for UCISA’s Women in Tech Group Conference in October.
It is another of the UCISA CPD sessions and builds on data we collected last year about demographic differences in lockdown
At the University of Edinburgh, we conducted University-wide surveys in 2020 and 2021 to understand people’s experiences of homeworking, taking into account their demographic differences. This gave us a rich data set from which to understand the experiences of women in IT during the pandemic. This presentation focuses on what we learned, and takes an intersectional approach to how different aspects of jobs were affected by off-campus working. The presentation takes an EDI perspective, discusses if and how different groups had different experiences, and how these differences can be taken into account when developing policies for hybrid working in the future. The session was a presentation of findings, and a discussion of how the findings are being used to develop policies. The content is interesting as it is evidence-based, using data over two years. In some instances, it was interesting to see the change of attitude from 2020 to 2021, while in some instances, settling into home working did not affect people’s opinions. The surveys took into account 19 demographic variables and it was interesting for the audience how these variables affected home working.
The session was well received and we experimented with new functionality in Teams, allowing participants to move through the slides at their own pace while we talked. This seems like a good way to allow participants to engage with quite a large set of data in the areas which interest them specifically. It’s nice to get nice feedback on the way we delivered the session as well as the content.
| What did you enjoy the most? |
| seeing results of real world research and being able to discuss this in the chat with others |
| The easy going, friendly nature of the event & the great use of technology for interaction |
| Better understanding the experience of other HE colleagues |
| The fact that they are willing to share the data with us and that everyone is in the same boat with hybrid working |
| all parts were interesting |
| the presentation style and learning from other colleagues |
| Hearing about others experiences |
| The interactive nature of the session. The way we could move to the slide we wanted to. |
| The insights and the way that they were presented. Very good, open, friendly presenters. Willing to expand on areas that people asked about. Very interactive and stimulating. |
| Clear and engaging content that was immediately relevant and thought-provoking. Presentation balanced context and “take-aways” very evenly. The session seemed to fly past, and I ended up with a lot of notes to go back over. |
| Everyone was participating in the conversation. |
| The way that the chat had equal value with the slides. I thought asking a question and then getting people to put responses in the chat worked really well. |
| Seeing old friends and learning how much data there is to support our real experience of working from home |
| The survey findings presented |
| I thought being able to look through the presentation at our own speed was amazing. Really useful. I thought the speakers were great, really clear and excellent insights from the data. Also loved how open this was – wouldn’t have thought this kind of event would go beyond the institution doing the research (I know that’s the point haha) but just a great event to be able to attend and ask questions. |
| The very active chat |
| Excellent presentation in a novel format |
| It was good to hear that other HEIs have had the same experiences. |
| This was a very valuable and interesting insight into responses to the recent situation, and a very comprehensive set of data presented. |
| Great work by the presenters and very interesting data. Wish we had more time to delve into the data detail |
| It was really informative – lots of information – but also a bit of fun too. Really good that the slides are available post session too so that we can look at our leisure. |
| The sharing of the data and invitation to join, share questions and share data really underlined the collaborative value of ucisa. Currently ucisa is my best value network, and the webinars are always worth attending. |
| This is definitely a “top ucisa sessions to attend” (I’ve attended lots!) and I will be recommending it, and the conference next week, to colleagues. |
| Time went really quickly (i.e. it didn’t drag). The atmosphere was very light and friendly. Felt very positive to be in a meeting led by all women (rare in my experience at UoM ITS). |
| a two hour session is quite good with time before to check in work and then get on with the day – thank you so much! |
| More events like this please! |
| Really engaging! |
A recording is available from UCISA if you are a member, or Lilinaz and I are available to deliver it again if you would like to invite us.
