The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages strives to be an ever more inclusive environment that is welcoming to all. We have a designated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion champion [Kate Tunstall for 2023-24], who co-ordinates faculty EDI initiatives, liaising with students, postholders and staff to ensure that our faculty’s commitment to equality is a guiding principle in each decision we take and in our daily working environment.
We are pleased to announce that we have submitted an application to be considered for an Athena Swan bronze award. The charter seeks to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE). Our commitment to the Athena Swan principles is available here.
We regularly assess our curricula and undergo an annual diversity audit in each language to evaluate our current teaching practice through an EDI prism. The reports from these audits not only highlight the great strides our faculty has made in decolonizing the curriculum at multiple levels, but also outline what further reforms are needed to counterbalance the often unconscious biases of our fields. The Faculty awards two Diversity Prizes annually for best Final Honours School performance in essays or projects that engage with issues of race and racialization, and intersectional approaches. Many of our students take part in the Diversity Translation Project that encourages translations of work currently unavailable in English by writers who have been traditionally overlooked because of the colonial biases of national literary canons.
Lectures delivered across the faculty cover a multiplicity of methodological pathways and intersectional approaches – from gender and race theories, textual studies, performance-based art forms and pre-modern cultures to queer perspectives, postcolonialism and linguistic diversity.
The research of many of our postholders engages directly with an EDI agenda. Please explore our research themes page or specific themes below to find out more about activities and individuals working in particular areas.
The faculty encourages vibrant, dynamic and inclusive discussions in all its seminars. Robust exchanges of ideas and the airing of differing views are welcome, in an environment that is supportive and safe, where diversity and inclusion are valued, and where scholars of all career-stages and backgrounds are entitled to be treated with courtesy and respect whilst engaging in academic debate.