Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 21 20 Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 Laura Palmour Associate Director of Residences at University of Southampton Following the publication of the Living Black at University report, the University of Southampton conducted a self-assessment on progress towards embedding the recommendations, and additionally considered the recommendations made in Osaro Otobo’s HEPI blog on complaints in accommodation. Our self- assessment highlighted areas that required focus to improve sense of belonging, and how accommodation can contribute to narrowing the awarding gap. A cross-university working group was established, including leads from teams that deliver services or activities in halls, while the ‘Awarding Gap’ project student group were consulted in order to hear students’ lived experience and the actions that were most important to them. Funding was secured for a team of students to redesign the halls welcome guide. The university worked in partnership with CampusLife to design a brand new e-induction for halls, with expectations and messages about belonging at the forefront. Our Residences directorate attended the university-wide Equality and Diversity Committee to raise awareness of the research outcomes and the Southampton action plan, building connectivity with other departments in understanding Residences’ training needs. Attending the Living Black at University Conference to understand the national response was also incredibly valuable for developing our approach. This work enabled the Residences and the Widening Participation and Social Mobility teams to connect, and to address the awarding gap. Through the Living Black at University and Awarding Gap projects, a student panel co-created the Black Freshers guide and Residences have promoted these guides in halls for September 2023 arrivals, as well as including content in the Halls Welcome Guide; this has been reviewed by students to provide content that celebrates our diverse community for September 2023. 1.6 CASE STUDY: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON A Student Charter was already in place at Southampton: as a result of the Living Black at University report, Residences have raised further awareness of the Charter through the Halls Welcome Guides, e-induction and halls welcome events. The student wellbeing team at Southampton were already providing access to counsellors from Black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds prior to the report’s publication. In response to Recommendation 3, Residences are discussing research and training opportunities at directorate-led, all-team sessions to encourage conversations about building inclusive environments. Residences already deliver training to all team members, including active bystander and unconscious bias training, as well as training through ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) to understand the skills required to ensure fair investigations are undertaken. We are currently developing ‘DEI toolbox talks’ with the university Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team – which provide regular bite-size training to the teams in Residences and our contractors – and are also developing pathways training for security teams. Finally, Residences are closely monitoring data on sense of belonging in halls and university surveys, and data teams are widening access to data by building new reports to help us to make and monitor change across the university.