EDI Staff Consultative Group | Equity Diversity & Inclusion

A staff voice for UNSW projects and initiatives

The UNSW Diversity Champions were established in 2018 to help drive UNSW towards being an international exemplar in equity, diversity and inclusion. The EDI Staff Consultative Group will form as its replacement to continue this important work.

Working with the Staff Consultative Group

The Group will consult on proposals for staff-facing projects and initiatives across the university, drawing on their lived experiences to inform the consultative process. Members will bring an authentic perspective via their lived experience to the EDI Staff Consultative Group, offering firsthand insight into the challenges, needs, and realities faced by individuals in specific diverse contexts or communities.

 The EDI Staff Consultative Group will meet on a quarterly basis starting in September 2023, as well as on an as-needed basis for projects and initiatives requiring urgent consultation.

EDI Staff Consultative Group EOI

Submit your expression of interest to engage with the Staff Consultative Group and get feedback on a staff-facing project or initiative.

Name of project/initiative

Content warning

If appropriate

Overview of project/initiative

Tell us about your project and how you would like to involve the Staff Consultative Group

Pre-reading required

Any materials you would like the group to review

Questions to consider

List any questions you would like the group to consider in their review

Would you like to present to the group?

Yes

Further information

Meet our Members

The group's members offer feedback on staff-facing projects or activities, based on their individual lived experiences. The group includes professional and academic staff members from various career stages and with a range of lived experience, including those who are from a migrant or refugee background, have parent or caring responsibilities, are from LGBTQIA+ communities, have experience of disability, and/or are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. 

Teneale Lavender

(She/Her)

Teneale was born on the lands of the Dharawal, south of Wollongong. Her ancestors hail from Yuin country, England, and Ireland. She is an Indigenous health and culture academic at UNSW (rural campuses). She has a special interest in student wellbeing, student diversity (herself having been recently diagnosed with ADHD) and social justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Teneale currently lives with her young family on sacred Biripi country, Port Macquarie.

Maryanne Micallef

(She/Her)

Maryanne is the Corporate Secretary (Controlled Entities) in Planning and Assurance. She identifies as a person of diverse sexual orientation, has lived experience of neurodiversity, is a single mum of 3 young kids and is the first in her family to finish high school and complete university.

Limin Mao

(She/Her)

Limin Mao is an Academic Professor within the Faculty of ADA. Limin is involved as a representative for the City of Sydney Inaugural Multicultural Advisory panel. Limin is also an advisor to the UNSW Health and Sexual and Reproductive Health groups.

Melissa Jenkins

(She/Her)

Mel Jenkins is an ER Consultant within the Department of Human Resources at UNSW. Mel has lived experience with Mental Health, and comes from a previous career as a nurse. Mel is passionate about improving the work environment for people living with mental health conditions, as is educating leaders in awareness and skills, and ensuring they know about support options.

Sonia Underwood (née Isaacs)

(She/Her)

Sonia Underwood (née Isaacs) is a Project Officer in the Research Training Team in the Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor Research Training at UNSW and is bringing her experience as a neurodivergent staff and student in both academic and professional roles. She was previously a HDR candidate in the Faculty of Medicine & Health and submitted her PhD thesis in March 2023 after a long journey, which included the identification of ADHD in later candidature.

Jane Clarke

(She/Her)

Jane is a Hub Leader in Finance/Operations at UNSW, and has been at university for 9 years, with experience in finance and medicine. Being a proud parent of 2 children, Jane is interested in how we can better support staff as their dynamic needs change over their time at UNSW.

Bridget Haire

(She/Her)

Bridget is a Senior research Fellow in the faculty of Medicine and Health. Bridget was the former LGBTQIA+ diversity champion, and previously co-facilitated the Ally Network. As a passionate and proactive queer parent and academic, Bridget is interested in trying to improve and uplift in all things in equity and diversity at UNSW.

Dr. Aves Parsemain

(They/Them)

Dr. Aves Parsemain is an Educational Developer in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture. Their work supports academic staff with anything from course and curriculum design to educational technologies. Aves describes their gender as transmasculine, and is a queer bi-racial proud parent of two.

Zofia Krawczyk-Bernotas

(She/Her)

Zofia is a Teaching Support Officer at UNSW, assisting ELP students with supportive provisions for their learning, exams, and assessments. Zofia also brings her knowledge and experience as a Breastfeeding Counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Being a mum of two, and supporting her partner with chronic illness, Zofia champions working flexibly and remotely to juggle all that life throws at her.

James Perez

(He/Him)

James comes from a Pacifika background, have experienced low SES and living in rural/regional areas. James was the first in his family to attend university, and currently works in student experience within ADA.

Jaye Early

(He/Him)

Jaye is a lecturer within the Faculty of ADA at UNSW. Jaye is a Darug man from the Boorooberongal clan. Bringing their personal and professional lived experience as a queer Indigenous academic, they are passionate about joining a community that are committed to cultural change through assisting the implementation of staff facing projects and initiatives across the university.

Yuvisthi Naidoo

(She/Her)

Yuvisthi is a Senior Research Fellow within the Social Policy Research Centre. Coming from an Indian background but growing up in South Africa during apartheid, Yuvisthi brings a wealth of lived experience to the Staff Consultative Group. Yuvisthi is also a carer of elderly parents, mother of 3, working part time and balancing participation in both the Staff Consultative Group and the SHAPE EMCR Futures network.

Anne Barnes

(She/Her)

Anne is an HDR Coordinator in the faculty of Medicine and Health. Hailing originally from New Zealand, Anne has a strong presence in inclusion areas across UNSW, being a key member of the Medicine and Health Ability Network and is a member of the NYU Global Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee where Anne is a casual lecturer in screen studies. Anne brings to the group a wealth of lived experience, understanding and empathy; she grew up in a low socio economic household, is an out and proud queer person, and is neurodivergent; dyslexic.

Caroline Foster

(She/Her)

Caroline is a Scientia Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Science & School of Physics. Caroline is neurodiverse, grew up speaking French, is a woman of Christian faith, and is a proud mum.

Kaitlyn South

(She/Her)

Kaitlyn is an Administrative Assistant at UNSW Canberra. She provides support to high level Faculty committees and administrative support for academic offerings through ECLIPS. Kaitlyn grew up in Western Sydney, and is part of LGBTQIA+ community, also having lived experience of child abuse and low SES.

Poppy de Souza

(She/Her)

Poppy is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Big Anxiety Research Centre. Poppy is a queer cis woman with mixed eur-asian background. They also live with disability and chronic illness, often working remotely.

Alaa Barhoum

(She/Her)

Alaa Barhoum holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UNSW. Alaa is a lecturer at ANU working with CPAS, with a focus on responsible innovation. She is also a researcher and a casual academic tutoring Signal Processing course at UNSW Australia. Alaa's research interests include during her graduate studies, they worked on investigating the high frequency band of heart rate variability for identifying preeclamptic pregnancy from normal pregnancy in Oman.

Penny Griffin

(She/Her)

Penny is a Senior Lecturer, Politics and International Studies, in the Faculty of ADA. A self proclaimed grumpy feminist, Penny is passionate about UNSW pursuing best practice in inclusion and an active champion in the space. Penny is the incoming co-champion for disability and mental health in ADA, and also a proud mum of 2.

Toby Boyson

(He/Him)

Toby is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Canberra. Living with Bipolar and ADHD, and supporting both his wife and child who both live with ADHD, Toby brings diverse lived experience to the Staff Consultative Group.

Negin Nazarian

(She/Her)

Negin is a Scientia Senior Lecturer at UNSW Built Environment. As a woman of color with a background in STEMM fields, Negin is passionately committed to addressing the unique barriers faced by women and minorities. Over the past decade, she has assumed several roles internationally dedicated to advocating for and promoting gender equity in academia. This includes her position as the UNSW Gender Equity Champion from 2021 to 2023.

Meera Varadharajan

(She/Her)

Meera is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact in the School of Business at UNSW. Meera is passionate about helping organizations build positive social impacts. As an educational researcher, she wants every child in Australia to have equitable access to excellent education.

Nasrin Danish

(She/Her)

Nasrin is a professional staff member in the Faculty of Engineering. Hailing from Singapore, Nasrin seeks to shine a light on the PhD and Higher Research Student experiences of migrants and international students.