“It was at the Queering Radboud event that I heard about the DEI Ambassador training course from Lia Kleuskens, who is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Coordinator. I was immediately captivated and saw it as a great opportunity to develop my potential during my studies. That’s also because I came out as queer about a year and a half ago. A lot of things that seemed quite obvious have changed as a result of this. You suddenly belong to a minority group and people view you very differently. For example, being queer is still illegal today in more than 60 countries, and queer people in Belgium and the Netherlands continue to experience discrimination and violence every day. I find that quite confronting. I had to redefine my place in the world, and in this respect, the DEI Ambassador training course sounded like it could be quite valuable for me.
The course began with two intense afternoons where we were immediately asked to delve into our own experiences and explore our motivation for becoming DEI Ambassadors. Taking action and persevering requires strong personal motivation. After the training sessions, everyone was asked if they wanted to continue with the programme, and almost everyone in our group said that they wished to carry on.
The programme continued with eight meetings, which were spread out over the academic year and focused on different topics each time, such as inclusive leadership, unconscious bias and advising on DEI. The session on inclusive leadership resonated with me the most. That’s because I’d also like to supervise a team myself one day. The way in which you treat your colleagues when you’re a supervisor makes such an impact. Taking diversity into account within a team can really allow people to flourish.
