I spent my first 18 months working with some amazing people to build a great network where people can share ideas, exchange templates, working documents and so on. From there, you can really feel part of the fabric of Oxford and that's where you can start to make change happen.
Jarlath Brine, Staff Development Manager
Department of Engineering at the University of Oxford
Tell us about your background in EDI
“My background coming into Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is slightly unusual. I've never had a career plan, I'm a social scientist by trade, which means I love ideas. I came into the space because when I worked in Local Government I saw that Oxford has 40% plus people born outside of Oxford, and is beautifully rich culturally, but the Local Authority wasn't. There were some really good people, but no real diversity of experience and thought. My first big EDI challenge there was to secure funding to run a huge apprenticeship recruitment campaign targeting kids who had no qualifications from the education system whatsoever. Over in Blackbird Leys, 45% of kids came out with nothing and that's only five miles away from here. The exciting part about engaging with that raw talent was you just really didn't know what you were going to come up against, but they were just amazing people. So that's my entry into EDI – enhancing and enabling talent management.
“From there the Equality Act 2010 really changed the game for a lot of practitioners in EDI because it gave a formal framework for institutions to say this is how you promote, this is how you foster, and here are some of your duties.”
What brought you to the University?
“I'm very committed to public service. I moved to the University because I saw this role. It was the biggest, broadest job description ever. Essentially it said, we want to do something but don't really know what we need to do – come and help us! They wanted to develop more inclusive practices, to help academics understand the value of helping students feel more part of the process, but also making staff feel more supported. It was a blank canvas, that's what was exciting.
“The immediate curve ball was Covid. All of a sudden, from having that ability to knock on people's doors and really start making networks, everything became remote. The biggest challenge was to make sure people could work safely and remotely. What you saw straight away was that people need space differently. So, for example, a community of postgraduate researchers, with maybe a college affiliation but not much else, who still needed to be safely working as a group, become your leading priority. People on grant money who were researching, those who needed to access buildings. Most professional staff were amazing, really flexible, despite this big change. Very few had ever worked from home at all. The big challenge as always, is that change is complex.
“I spent my first 18 months working with some amazing people to build a great network where people can share ideas, exchange templates, working documents and so on. From there, you can really feel part of the fabric of Oxford and that's where you can start to make change happen. People in the EDI space operate differently to each other. You have really insightful people with lived experience, those who lead campaigns and bring people with them. Truly inspiring people. And you have people like me whose jobs are broad – looking at inclusive practice and collaboration.”
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen? And what’s your vision for the future?
“I've been here four years and seen big changes. Big changes in leadership and big changes in buy-in and authenticity around that real passion to do it [EDI].
“I'm tapering down my career and am convinced we’ll see more consistent investment in the skills and behaviours managers need to confidently back their staff. We’ll see change to that whole narrative - when someone arrives at Oxford, has a comprehensive induction and fully understands what Oxford's about. They’ll have a really clear picture of career pathways and understand that managers are 100% sincere when they come in on a Monday morning and ask, what can I do to help you this week? So, my vision for the future is everyone has the skills and behaviours required to do their job. They can train on the job if they need to, and we can be agile and digitally upskill people. I think the University is on a great path.”
