Everyone belongs at UNSW
Part of making you feel at home on our campuses is having Diversity Champions whose role it is to drive significant cultural change around equity, diversity and inclusion at UNSW.
“Visibility is a powerful change maker and, when coupled with a strong commitment to structural change from the ground up, it’s unstoppable.” - Dr Andy Kaladelfos
Andy Kaladelfos (they/them) is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the School of Law, Society and Criminology. They are a nationally recognised research expert in sexual and gender-based violence and queer criminology, and the author of 28 peer reviewed publications and numerous prestigious national grants, the majority relating to child sexual abuse and sexual violence against women.
Andy is a Board Director of the visibility and advocacy organisation Trans Pride Australia, sits on the ACON (peak body for LGBTIQ+ health) specialist Research Ethics Committee, is a member of the Australian Hate Crimes Network, and has been on the UNSW LGBTIQ+ Working Group since their arrival at UNSW in 2018.
“I want to ensure that transgender and gender diverse (TGD) issues are meaningfully embedded across the important work that UNSW does, especially that of gender equity. Too often TGD issues are ‘siloed’ into the LGBTIQ+ arena, but the issues that affect TGD staff and students need to be extended beyond this remit. There needs to be meaningful TGD involvement and consultation to ensure a workplace and student life safe from gendered harassment, bullying, experiences of violence, insecure work, and homelessness.”
“I aim to create means to better connect with colleagues across different disciplines by creating safe and inclusive spaces for discourse and action.” - Dr Negin Nazarian
Negin Nazarian (she/her) is a Scientia Lecturer at the School of Built Environment. Negin’s research targets microscale analysis of urban heat, ventilation, and thermal comfort through various methodologies, ranging from the development of numerical tools to employing wearables and IoT-based sensors for achieving human-centric assessments. Negin is an active member of the Built Environment EDI Committee, the ‘Engaging Men’ working group, and the Women in Research Network.
As a result of her experiences as an early career academic in fields dominated by men, Negin feels a responsibility to engage, encourage, and champion diversity at all levels of the community; and particularly provide a supportive network for women to enter into academia and succeed.
“As a woman of color who was trained in the STEM fields, I am aware - and have lived experience - of many barriers unique to women and minorities in academia, including implicit biases and recognition gaps that hold women back across a wide range of career levels, to caring responsibilities and associated challenges that impede progress in building successful careers.”
“I would like to see more men engaged in the gender conversation across the University.” - Professor Timothy O'Leary
Timothy O’Leary (he/him) is the Head of the School of Humanities and Languages. He is a world-recognised scholar of the work of Michel Foucault, an important source of inspiration for queer studies and gender studies. Timothy has been a co-Gender Champion at UNSW since 2020, and has been a member of the UNSW Gender Champions Working Group since he joined the university in 2018. While working at the University of Hong Kong, Timothy also engaged in many initiatives to promote gender equity, such as leading the implementation of a new policy regarding sexual harassment.
“There is nobody for whom gender is not a part of their lived experience. But that experience comes in many forms. In my case, I have always had a pronounced discomfort with norms of (hetero-)masculinity. One of the things I have learned is that while masculinity can be expressed in many different cultural forms, it generally has the same set of negative impacts; primarily for women, but also for men, LGBTIQ+ people, and many other communities.”
“While there is no doubt our society is changing, I believe more work needs to be done.” - Associate Professor Susana Vaz Nery
Susana Vaz Nery (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Public Health Interventions Research Program at the Kirby Institute. She researches neglected tropical diseases and aims to inform health policy changes for more effective and sustainable disease control strategies.
Since joining UNSW in 2018, Susana has continued to work towards gender equity, recently finishing a term as a member of the Athena SWAN self-assessment team and becoming a member of the Kirby Institute's Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
“I see this role as an opportunity to be inspired by and learn from colleagues who are as passionate as I am about the need to further promote equity and interacting directly with senior levels of the university. To this role I will bring my previous leadership experience, as well as my lived experience, aiming to propose and contribute to implement initiatives promoting a more equitable, diverse and inclusive environment.”