Engineering students explore unconscious bias with new training sessions

Students from the Department of Earth Science & Engineering

A new pilot project has been launched in the Faculty of Engineering to deliver unconscious bias training to undergraduate students.

The Faculty of Engineering are trialling the session for new students from four departments across the faculty.

The training, delivered last week with the Departments of Earth Sciences and Engineering and, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has been introduced to better prepare students for the issues around bias as they develop their careers during and after their studies.

Unconscious bias is the result of a person’s brain making an incredibly quick judgement or assessment of people and situations without them realising it.

These biases are influenced by a person’s background, cultural environment and personal experiences, often without a person being aware of their impact or implications.

Su Nandy, Senior Human Resources Manager for the Faculty of Engineering said: “With many of our students going into start-up organisations, often during their studies, and taking on leadership roles much quicker than before it’s important to bring issues like unconscious bias to their attention.

“Hopefully by exploring these issues early on in their academic careers we can both better enhance the student experience here in the faculty and prepare them to become better managers and leaders in the future.”

The training, which was designed and delivered for the College by experts from Pearn Kandola, introduced the students to these issues and the impact they can have in areas such as recruitment, and academia.

Roxana Radu, a second year student from Earth Sciences and Engineering, who took part in the session said: “It was really interesting. I’ve done similar training before but it opens your eyes to bias around you.

“Even though we’re not yet in a workplace I think it can be relevant to students who can be naive and easily influenced by others.

“I don’t think you can change a person completely but the session means if I was to face one of those biases it would be easier to recognise it and act appropriately.”

Further sessions for students from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computing will take place later this academic year.