樱花影视

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Equity Action Plan

Incentivized professional development

Submitted on behalf of Strategic Reseach Initiatives.

The Strategic Research Initiatives (SRI) team works within the portfolio of the Vice-President Research and Innovation assisting researchers and research units to create a better world through curiosity, engagement and innovation. That includes storytelling about research impacts, assistance with grant proposals and processes, project management, analyzing and reporting on research activities, and much more.

Using the Equity Action Plan Implementation Framework and Toolkit the SRI team established education as a key priority. After establishing their initial priority, a working group was formed to develop a foundational education plan focused on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). For the first year (Sept 2024-Aug 2025), they recommended that all SRI team members take three UVic courses:

  1. Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training
  2. Foundations of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and
  3. .

Those who had already completed these courses were not required to retake them but were encouraged to pursue other EDI learning activities. Participation was tracked through an annual passport, which supervisors can integrate into performance reviews. Importantly, to incentivize participation, those employees who completed three learning activities were given a half-day (3.5 hours) of paid leave to use at their discretion.

Going forward, members will be encouraged to continue their EDI education and report progress annually. This September, a list of free educational materials and opportunities will be available, allowing flexibility for personal learning preference.

 

Connection to the EAP

 This activity advances Relationality and belonging, Action 4:

Promote and support professional development opportunities and events that build an inclusive campus and culture. Lead: All portfolios

Impact

After the first year, a survey was circulated among the SRI team to collect feedback. Some of the key impacts of this program as shared by participants were:

  • It made EDI discussions within the team easier since there was a sense of learning together. For example, several members attended an in-person Indigenous Cultural Acumen training together, which led them to debriefing their key learnings together after the session.
  • Incentivization led to new learner engagement. For example, one respondent mentioned they would not have attended such learning events without this program.
  • Flexibility promoted participation. For example, participants could complete the 3 courses at times that worked for their schedules.

Learnings and reflections

The working group has reflected on the way that taking the time early on to address concerns and feedback helped build widespread buy-in for this program. Specifically, despite that there was much excitement and openness to this initiative, managers had questions about the logistics of implementation and accountability. While this did mean there was a slower place at the start, Rachel Goldsworthy suggested that “This wasn’t a weakness, in the end; I think the challenges from the managers made it a more robust program.” One of the changes made based on feedback was to have everyone focus on the same three educational opportunities for the first year of the program to create a shared foundation of knowledge and understanding.