Cultural Diversity at the Faculty of Science | Lunch discussion with physicist Alex Khajetoorians and mathematician Henriques Tavares (Lezing)

Melting pot

What is it like to be a foreign student or staff member at the Radboud University Faculty of Science as it becomes more and more international? People with all sorts of different ethnic-cultural backgrounds, habits, languages and norms work together in the Huygens building. The way people act, react or express emotions can vary widely between different cultures. This diversity increases the number of perspectives, but it might also cause problems in communication and/or mutual understanding.

Diversity

Are culturally diverse research teams beneficial for science? Does diversity enrich thinking, approaches, and perspectives or does it mainly cause inconveniences and communication problems? Are there noticeable prejudices toward people from different cultures? Does the Faculty of Science have a policy for enriching the diversity of their students and staff? If so, what ethical considerations are at stake in this policy? And how Dutch, or how cosmopolitan, is the reigning culture at the Faculty of Science?

Come think about your own and other people's cultural differences and gain new insight about how they can enrich your work during this lunch meeting.

About the speakers

Alex Khajetoorians is professor of Scanning Probe Microscopy and member of the faculty’s Gender and Diversity Committee (GenDi). The committee’s goal it is to make the faculty a good place for everyone. He will speak about the committee’s stance and his own view on cultural diversity at the Faculty of Science.

Henriques Tavares, a PhD candidate in Mathematics who is originally from Brazil, will discuss his own experience about moving to Nijmegen and reflect on moving between cultures .

Registration

Participation is free. All Faculty of Science employees and students are welcome. Please register in advance.

In November 2017, Radboud Reflects programming highlights the Faculty of Science at Radboud University, to think about ethical issues in science with students, employees and the general public.