How we’re creating a safe and inclusive community

We’ve completed two important pieces of work supporting our Tackling Harassment and Violence Against Women Action Plan. We’ve developed our Tackling Misogyny, Sexism, Harassment and Sexual Violence Against Women Policy and our Domestic Abuse Policy. We’ve also reviewed our Personal Relationship Statement.

Tackling Misogyny, Sexism, Harassment and Sexual Violence Against Women Policy

Our Tackling Misogyny policy outlines the University’s approach to misogyny, harassment, sexism and sexual violence towards women. The policy will help us create a culture where individuals feel safe and empowered to speak up when they experience or witness examples of misogyny within the University community (whether on campus or at home).

This is the first policy of its kind in the Higher Education sector, and we are proud to be leading the way in tackling misogyny in education. It explains the process for reporting instances of misogyny and outlines the subsequent actions that will be taken. The policy also gives examples of acts and behaviours rooted in misogyny, including:

• sexist language;
• role stereotyping;
• gender-related microaggressions;
• gaslighting;
• internalised misogyny;
• structural misogyny;

as well as definitions of sexual harassment and violence, and domestic abuse.

Take a look at the full Policy on Tackling Misogyny and Sexual Violence Against Women (.pdf).

Domestic Abuse Policy

Our Domestic Abuse Policy was created to:

• raise awareness of the issue of domestic abuse;
• signpost support for people who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse;
• empower students and staff to disclose and respond to disclosures of domestic abuse;
• create a culture of openness without fear of stigma, harassment or discrimination;
• recognise that the responsibility for domestic abuse lies with the perpetrator.

The policy outlines how domestic abuse can present itself, how to report instances of domestic abuse, and what support is available for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. It also explains the actions that can be taken towards perpetrators of domestic abuse who work or study at the University community.

Take a look at the full Domestic Abuse Policy (.pdf).

Conflict of Interest and Personal Relationships

We’ve revised our statement on personal relationships to help create a safe and inclusive environment for our staff and students.

The revised statement covers:

• our commitment to ensuring a safe and inclusive environment;
• our strong discouragement of personal relationships, particularly those of a sexual nature;
• aims of the guidance;
• the requirement to declare personal relationships between staff and students and to whom, and the consequences if there is a failure to declare;
• situations wherein disclosure of a personal relationship between staff is required and to whom, and what actions (if any) must be taken to ensure that actions do not constitute or are not perceived to constitute abuse of power;
• our zero-tolerance approach and how cases reported will be addressed.

You can see the full statement on our Staff Directory.