Our people

Strategic priorities

Our university-wide people enabling plan involves building an inclusive working and learning environment which is engaging, enjoyable and builds trust. We aim to attract and retain highly talented colleagues and students, investing in their skills and development, whilst recognising and celebrating their achievements.

Progress during the past year with an eye to the future

Recruitment

Attracting and recruiting highly talented colleagues locally, nationally and internationally, through inclusive recruitment practices continues to be one of our top priorities and features heavily in our Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan accreditation action plans.

The new immigration system has been in place for the past year, and we have seen a sharp increase in colleagues requiring sponsorship or support from the University for a global travel visa (238 colleagues in 2021–22 compared to 180 in 2020–21). Our dedicated support at an early stage in the recruitment process has ensured that colleagues joining the University have received the appropriate guidance and support during this process. We are also reviewing the relocation support that we provide to colleagues.

Colleague development

Our focus on culture, values and behaviour has continued this year. We have formally launched our Leading Through Values programme, a new three-day leadership programme for all leaders focused on culture, values and behaviours. The programme has been delivered to over 145 leaders across the University, and is a catalyst for further team development and projects. 2021–22 also saw the second cohort of our Inclusive Futures leadership programme for ethnically minoritised colleagues. Delivered in partnership with Common Purpose, this year the programme won the regional Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion.

6,004

full-time equivalent colleagues employed at 31 July 2022

increase of 126 (2.14%) from 31 July 2021

Newcastle University is a member of the Advance HE Race Equality Charter (REC). The REC provides a framework to help the University to identify and self-reflect on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of staff and students from minority ethnic groups. Our REC action plan details the measures that we are taking to overcome these barriers.

Newcastle University is also a member of the Athena Swan Charter which recognises employment practices which promote gender equality. We are one of a small number of UK universities in the UK to hold an Athena Swan Silver award demonstrating the impact of our activities. Thirteen academic units also hold Athena Swan departmental awards.

As one of the first organisations to become signatories of the new Researcher Development Concordat, work has continued in this area. In particular, we have created a new role to accelerate the work around creating the Skills Academy, which will be a hub for research skills and collaborations. To inform the focus of the Skills Academy alongside our work on research culture, we have undertaken a survey of the research community to better understand their needs around personal and career development. Utilisation of the apprentice levy has continued to form a significant part of our development of new and existing colleagues with £0.3m being invested this year. This covers 92 apprentices ranging from level two to seven, across 20 different training providers. We held a Technicians Partnership Conference in July 2022 at The Frederick Douglass Centre. The conference was structured around three themes – Research Culture, Net Zero, and Technical Careers. The objective, which was achieved, was to share best practice and form productive networks amongst technical communities.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

The University has a long-standing commitment to EDI and holds it as one of our core values. We continue to make progress across a range of university-wide EDI activities. For example, as part of our race equality work, we have submitted our Race Equality Charter application in 2022. In addition, we are progressing with the delivery of our institutional Athena Swan action plan and, as part of our disability inclusion work, we have joined the Disability Confident scheme.

In 2022, we carried out an extensive review to enhance our Equality Analysis process and plan to roll out a new template, guidance and training in the 2022–23 academic year. We have embedded Active Bystander Training as essential training. In addition, we continue to strengthen relationships with our EDI Networks and have launched a new Carers Policy. As part of our Research Culture Roadmap, EDI colleagues and research leaders have launched a research project into inappropriate behaviours that impact on embedding a positive research environment. This work will inform a range of actions aimed at tackling such behaviours. In addition to this research, we have been commissioned to lead sector-wide research for Advance HE around a holistic approach to EDI within universities.

Colleague wellbeing

In 2021–22, the University made the decision to invest in a new Colleague Wellbeing team. The team have led on the development and approval of the new 2022–27 health and wellbeing strategic plan, which was developed in consultation with the Student Health and Wellbeing Service, and the Occupational Health and Safety Service. In addition to this, working with the same services, the team have co-developed the University’s suicide prevention strategic plan. We have introduced a wellbeing events calendar which is supported by enhanced wellbeing communications, including a new monthly wellbeing bulletin to promote wellbeing support and activities. In line with enhancing communications and raising awareness of wellbeing support for colleagues, we have increased our wellbeing peer support volunteers, with Just Ask volunteers going from seven to 33, and Wellbeing Ambassadors across faculties, schools and departments growing from 28 to 73. We have also introduced Menopause Champions to the University to raise awareness of this important topic and signpost to existing support. In addition to growing in numbers, we have improved the training for Just Ask volunteers – they now receive mental health first aid training and regular peer support via Just Ask volunteers and Wellbeing Ambassadors forums.