Events

Clinical Education Seminar: INVESTIGATING OUR UNCONSCIOUS BIASES, EMPOWERING BAME STUDENTS by Dr Musarrat Maisha Reza

We feel that we are open-minded, progressive individuals who are trying to make the world a little bit better. While the intention is great, sometimes, our unconscious biases hold us back. Despite our efforts to be inclusive, BAME students still feel a sense of isolation/loneliness or a poor sense of belonging because often as academics, we may say things or behave in ways that may offend, discourage or disempower them due to our unconscious biases. Are we ready to become conscious of our unconscious biases? Dr Reza will share her journey on peeling some layers of her unconscious bias through critical reflection and charting a path forward.

Event details

Dr Reza is a lecturer in Biomedical Sciences (Education and Scholarship) and the Race Equality Resource Officer at the College of Medicine and Health. She received her PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2017. She was born in Bangladesh and was raised in Singapore as part of a first-generation immigrant family, experiencing both sides of the fence; privilege, and discrimination. Moving to the UK in 2018, she began her lectureship journey (biological sciences) with University of East Anglia where she dedicated much of her time to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies and recommending strategies for BAME student retention, progression and sense of belonging. Outside academia, she remains a stalwart in her activism on young people's participation in decision making and have represented them on high level international panels to world leaders ensuring no young person is left behind in fulfilling their potential. Dr Reza finds her role as a Race Equality Resource Officer highly inspiring and is looking forward to contributing to a more diverse and inclusive college ecosystem.