Race Equity Advocates (Media, Arts, Humanities)
Would you like to work within a team who are passionate about working with the university schools and support services to address the BAME awarding gap? Are you passionate about improving and facilitating students’ of colour education and student experience?
The role of the Race Equity Advocates is to engage and have conversations with students of colour in The Media, Arts and Humanities school, about their experiences within the University of Sussex and the institutional culture that leads to the Sussex Awarding Gap in their specific school of study.
We are looking for students who will support, inspire and empower Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students to be involved in creating change at our university in order to close the BAME awarding gap. The knowledge you gain and share will help university managers, schools and support services to start initiatives that will address the Sussex awarding gap. We aspire to enable much better BAME inclusion, more representation and diversity across the university and students' union. You’ll likely enjoy this role if you’re comfortable starting conversations with people you don’t know. This project has been created to help the University to further understand the experiences of students from different ethnic backgrounds and will help staff to improve diversity and inclusive practices.
We’re looking to employ one student who identifies as Black, Asian, Arab and/or Mixed Heritage/ person of colour, who is passionate about understanding the lived experiences of students’ of colour with an awareness of the varying sub-identity groups that make-up the BAME communities, and the nuances of the issues that they face.
The role is expected to commence in December 2024 and to come to an end in July 2025. This part-time post lends itself to flexible working for disabled students and those with care commitments.
A key part of this role is being able to understand the experiences of students of colour within the University, in addition to representing them. As a result, to apply for these roles you must self-identify as a student of colour. You must be a student of Sussex studying in The Media, Arts and Humanities School at the time of the start date in order to apply.
Project History
There is a disparity in undergraduate degree outcomes between white students and students of colour. As a result, the Students’ Union is committed to raising the voice of students of colour to ensure that the university hears their voices to ensure relevant changes are made in order to close the gap. To help understand the gap, the Students’ Union launched the Race Equity Programme in 2020 across the 6 schools with the largest awarding gaps at the university: Life Sciences, Media Arts and Humanities, Media Film and Music, Education and Social Work, Law, Politics and Sociology, Business School & Global Studies. We are now looking to appoint one new student Race Equity Advocate in the Media, Arts & Humanities School, who will be supported by the Equity and inclusion Coordinator.
We are highly committed to maintaining a diverse workforce. We welcome applications from everyone, and strongly encourage applications from people who are Black, Asian, Arab, Mixed Heritage, ethnic minority or from East Asian background, people with a disability, people with dependents, and those identifying as LGBTQ+. We conduct anonymous shortlisting and our interview panels have Unconscious Bias Training in order to support the above. We also consider flexible working for those with disabilities and care commitments. If you have any suggestions as to how we could improve our language or application process please let us know.
For any queries regarding the role, please contact arham.f@sussexstudent.com
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job title: Race Equity Advocates
Responsible to: Equity and Inclusion Coordinator
Rate of pay: £14.57 per hour (made up of £13 + £1.57 holiday pay)
Hours of work: 6 hours per week including some evenings and weekends
Contract: Fixed Term, 31st July 2025
Location: Falmer House, University of Sussex, BN1 9QF. However, we are supportive of hybrid working with staff expected to work a minimum of 50% of their hours from the office, unless otherwise agreed with their line manager.
Applicants: To apply for this role you must self-identify as a student of colour. You must be a student of Sussex studying in The Media, Arts and Humanities School at the time of the start date in order to apply.
For more details please see the full Job Description and Person Specification.
KEY DATES
Applications close: 21st November 2024, 9am (UK Time)
Interviews: From 25th of November, 2024
COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION
We are really committed to maintaining a diverse workforce because we know how important it is to have decision makers and collaborators with varied lived experiences and backgrounds that reflect the range of needs from our diverse student community.
We welcome applications from everyone, and we want to strongly encourage applications from; people with an ethnic minority or Chinese background, people with a disability, people with dependants, and people who identify as LGBTQ+. We conduct anonymous shortlisting and all of our interview panels have Unconscious Bias Training in order to support the above. We also consider flexible working for those with care commitments. If you have any suggestions as to how we could improve our language or application process please let us know.
STAFF AND APPLICANTS WITH LONG TERM CONDITIONS
The Students’ Union aims to implement reasonable adjustments for all staff and applicants with disabilities, creating a culture of cooperation, shared responsibility and pro activeness to ensure equitable access to jobs. We want to make sure everyone is supported in our selection processes, and are equipped to work safely and get as much as possible out of their role as possible.
For more information about the support we have available follow this link
ABOUT US
We are looking for skilled, friendly and highly motivated people who share our vision and values.
With our vibrant environment and organisational culture, the Students Union is a dynamic workplace only a few places could match. Led by students we are all about working with students to help them get the most out of their time here at the University of Sussex or Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Whilst being located on Sussex Campus - close to Brighton & Hove - we are separate from the University, something that is crucial to our campaigning and lobbying work.
According to last year's Staff Engagement Survey, the best things about working here is the supportive environment with great people who you can trust and respect as well as the ability to work flexibly for most roles.
Although we have different departments we think of ourselves as one big team and are often working all together on projects or helping each other out at big events such as Freshers week or Elections.
Whilst we cannot really brag about offering the most competitive pay, as is often the case in the third sector, we feel we have a lot of other things going for us, which more than make up for our less competitive salaries.
Working on Sussex Campus and for the SU has lots of perks: Our staff get access to enhanced time off, which normally amounts to an extra 6 days leave in addition to 20 days of annual leave per year, and bank holidays. We also organise regular staff socials and events throughout the year and pride ourselves on having numerous learning and development opportunities for all our roles and creating a supportive workplace with regular 1 to 1s, an employee assistance programme and professional health services. You can read up more about our benefits below or on our benefits package.
If this sounds like the workplace you’d like to join, we would love to receive your application and get to know you!
STAFF BENEFITS
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
We really welcome applications from abroad for all of our vacancies.
Due to legal regulations we have to ensure that everyone is eligible to work in the UK and this would be done by us checking and making a copy of the correct original identification/documentation before your first day of work. However, we do not ask for your eligibility to work during the application stage. You may also be limited in the number of hours you would be allowed to work.
Find out more information about applying to work in the UK.
Find out more information about applying to work in the UK.
In any case, we would encourage anyone to apply for a job in one of our friendly departments to give yourself the chance of being selected, and we would look to see the appropriate original documents before your first day of work.
国际学生
我们希望更多的留学生来申请。根据法律规定，我们必须确保每个人都有资格在英国工作。在你正式开始工作的第一天或之前，我们需要检查你的签证和复印你的护照原件(和/或其他适当的身份证明)。工作时间也可能有一定的限制。
GETTING PAID
Everyone working in the UK needs a National Insurance number in order to get paid. If you are a UK citizen you will automatically have this, however if you are an international student you might want to apply for an NI number at the same time as you apply for a job so there is no delay in your payments. You can do so using this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number. Please note you cannot apply for a National Insurance Number until you're in the UK, but this should not stop you from completing your application for this role. If you need support in applying for a National Insurance Number you may find that Sussex University's International Support Team can help: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/international-students/international-student-support
MORE INFORMATION
To find out more about working for the Students' Union go to: