EDI Fellow | Sabrina Martin
Dr Sabrina Martin teaches Politics for Keble and has been a Fellow by Special Election at the College since 2020. She became Keble’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Fellow in 2021.
Sabrina Martin writes:
Keble was founded on a principle of widening participation at Oxford. As the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Fellow, my role is to work to continue that goal.
Because of the collegiate nature of the University, I think college EDI Fellows often have to get creative with regards to what their roles entail. I see my job largely as helping to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment.
I’ve been the EDI Fellow at Keble since November 2021, but went on maternity leave shortly after being appointed, so this has been my first full year in the post. Becoming a parent as well has certainly added a new element to my understanding of EDI.
Broadly speaking, my EDI role has two components: an internal one looking at how to progress the EDI goals of the College; and an external one where I represent Keble at University EDI forums and events.
One of the things that I’m most proud of having done so far is working with the University’s Chief Diversity Officer to pilot EDI training for Freshers. Last summer, I helped put together a workshop that we then presented in Freshers’ Week to both graduate and undergraduate students. The training consisted of a discussion of different EDI scenarios students might face and some guiding principles for how to navigate them with a welcoming and open mind. Next year, it will be expanded across the colleges, which is very exciting! I love that Keble got to serve as a pioneer for this.
I have some statutory responsibilities to the College, like working with the Senior Tutor to compile the annual Equality Report, and acting as the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) lead, making sure that equality considerations are accounted for in Governing Body decisions. These are important because they help to make sure that Keble is fulfilling its legal obligations, but I suppose they don’t have much observable impact on the day-to-day functioning of the College.
Consequently, I’ve also written a College Equality Plan. So far, I’ve started a small EDI forum that includes the relevant Equality Reps from both the JCR and MCR. It’s only been around for two terms, but so far it’s allowed us to discuss a lot of cross-College issues. I get a better feel for what issues the students think are important and the students get a dedicated faculty member to help them talk through and champion their causes. I’ve also organised EDI events in College, and I’m currently looking into where we can update College policies to reflect current best practice.
Thus far, I’ve found Keble to be a very receptive, and indeed enthusiastic, environment for EDI, so I believe that it will be easy to make an impact in this space.
I’m always looking for ideas, and I would love to hear from the wider Keble community with any potential improvements or ideas for projects related to EDI in College. Please feel free email me at sabrina.martin@keble.ox.ac.uk.
