On the occasion of World Inclusion Day, Palacký University is preparing its first annual IncluDay (InkluDen) on Thursday 10 October 2024. The day-long event will offer an informal group breakfast for UP women scientists and academics, a workshop on balancing work and personal life, an art opening, and an early evening theatrical presentation. You can find the detailed programme on the website.
The main purpose of IncluDay, subtitled Bridges Among Us, is to remind us of the importance and benefits of creating an inclusive and diverse culture. “Although the terms inclusion and diversity are often used, not everyone knows what they mean. Simply put, diversity means variety – in the context of the learning and working environment, we are talking about collectives that are diverse not only on the basis of gender and age, but also on the basis of life experiences,” said Markéta Šupplerová, head of the UP Personnel Management Office, which is preparing the event. “As for inclusion, it refers to the creation of a work or study environment where everyone is accepted regardless of their possible differences. The IncluDay activities will open up the theme of the importance of building imaginary bridges among us,” she added.
Women’s Science Breakfast
The IncluDay will commence with a Science Breakfast, which will be dedicated to women scientists at Palacký University. It will provide them with an informal space to share their experiences of what it is like to be a woman scientist and what helps in balancing personal and professional life, and more. “The reason why we decided to focus the event explicitly on women scientists is the fact that even at our university there is a persistent trend of the phenomenon called the ‘leaky pipeline’, where the representation of women decreases with increasing academic rank. At the meeting, we’d therefore like to open up the topic of common barriers in women’s scientific careers but also to share successful strategies for coping with difficult moments,” explains Šupplerová. Irena Smolová, Chair of the UP Academic Senate, has promised to deliver the opening words at the Science Breakfast.
The Work-Life Balance
An educational workshop on balancing work and life and the tools to support it, entitled The Work-Life Balance, will be offered to managers and HR staff from the university. The workshop will be led by Klára Čmolíková Cozlová, who works at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague as the head of the Department for Gender Equality, Inclusion and Diversity, and Dita Jahodová, ombudsperson at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague and expert guarantor for the 22% Towards Equality project at the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Art opening and Mumcabaret play
To make IncluDay open to everyone on campus, there will be an opening of the Together in Diversity art exhibit at UPoint, and at the end of the day, a free theatre performance, Mumcabaret, about the joys and sorrows of parenthood, will take place in the Convictorium Theatre. “Many of our current activities focus on the work-life balance and the needs of parents. In order to lighten up the topic a bit, we decided to include this entertaining performance in the programme, which could also be of interest to ‘non-parents’, whether they be students or employees,” explained Veronika Fousková from the UP Personnel Management Office, adding that the performance is also of particular affinity to Palacký University because it is written and played by its graduates.