SMS Academic and Research staff showcase what we're doing as a School to make Mathematics more inclusive.
At the end of October, Queen Mary launched CAISE - the Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering – and you can read all about the launch event and the Faculty's future plans here.
Part of Queen Mary's Strategy 2030 is to be ‘the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere’ and it is initiatives like this this one that really put these words into action.
Today we wanted to highlight the brilliant work of our Maths community and share with you the posters that they created for the CAISE launch event.
Our first poster “Making online mathematics conferences accessible to people with sensory disabilities” showcases a project run by Dr Nina Otter through her charity DeMoS. With so many conferences moving online during the pandemic, Otter began to question whether these online event were inclusive enough. The poster she created offers practical advice to event organisers who want to ensure their event caters for those with sensory disabilities. Dr Otter is also working with Dr Primoz Skraba to ensure our MSc Data Analytics students understand the importance of making data accessible and that they have inclusivity front of mind when creating data visualisations. Click the link to view the poster: SMS 1 Accessible Conferences [PDF 750KB]
Our second poster “Diversifying the Maths Curriculum” is a visual representation of the recent EDI project we reported on last month. A small group of research students and staff created an invaluable resource for teaching mathematics that brings together the profiles of 56 mathematicians from a variety of backgrounds. The research team approached this project through the lenses of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability, among other protected characteristics to show that our community is far more diverse than traditional teaching may lead us to believe. The document they created has the power to change how we teach maths forever.
Click the link to view the poster: SMS 2 Diversifying the Curriculum [PDF 1,507KB]
Our third poster “Removing Barriers in the Mathematics Student Experience” shows how our academic staff are making the subject more accessible and diverse. They’re working hard to debunk the myth that Maths is hard and only for the gifted. By taking a more student-centred approach to teaching Maths, and focusing on building personal connections between students and staff, they have seen great success in making the subject more accessible. The poster also features excellent examples of how lecturers are moving away from traditional, often US-centric, learning resources to feature a more diverse range of materials.
Click the link to view the poster: SMS 3 Removing Barriers in the Mathematics Student Experience [PDF 640KB]
The three posters featured are just a few examples of what we’re doing to create the most inclusive environment possible for our students and staff. To learn more about our work in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit our School EDI page.