Unconscious Bias (recommended Equalities training)
Trainer: To be agreed
Duration: 1.5 hours
Date/time: Wednesday 18th May 2016, 10:30 – 12:00
Venue: Bramber House Conference Centre
For: All Academic staff and Professional Services managers
Who is it for?
For staff who make decisions about/assessments of other staff or students as part of their role, e.g.
recruitment of staff and students; assessments of students; assessments of individuals’ research
proposals; recommendations for promotions/bonuses.
What participants can expect to learn:
This session explores unconscious bias and considers how we can avoid it, helping to identify the
best candidates for promotion and recruitment, as well as making the University a fairer place in
which to work and study.
Implicit or unconscious bias happens by our brains making incredibly quick judgments and
assessments of people and situations without us realising. Our biases are influenced by our
background, cultural environment and personal experiences. We may not even be aware of these
views and opinions, or be aware of their full impact and implications.
Research has found that unconscious bias can heavily influence recruitment and selection
decisions. Several experiments using CV shortlisting exercises have highlighted bias by gender and
ethnicity.