Voices of Diversity: Mike Wedderburn
As part of our commitment to advancing race equality, changing our culture for better, and being an anti-racist community, we are pleased to be holding an event with alumnus Mike Wedderburn as part of the Voices of Diversity series.
Mike has recently joined University Council and has previously contributed his time to support the Class of 2020 online show and subsequent celebratory content.
Mike, who graduated with an MSc Sports Science degree from Loughborough in 1989, is one of the most familiar presenters on Sky Sports News. He first appeared on the channel over 20 years ago, following a Rugby Union career.
In 2020, Mike shared a video and written piece on Sky Sports News explaining the importance of understanding the purpose behind the Black Lives Matter movement.
In this event, Mike will discuss his career journey, how he landed a prestigious role on Sky Sports News, and his passion for supporting racial equality.
When booking you will be asked to select if you would like to attend online or in person. In person spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and will be subject to capacity and current guidance.
The event is open to all, but we particularly encourage attendance from current students.
About Voices of Diversity
The University is working on a number of initiatives and submitted its application for the Race Equality Charter (REC) Bronze Award in July this year. It has also conducted surveys and focus groups with staff and students, improved the reporting of racism and hate incidents (and taken disciplinary action where racist behaviour has occurred), and more recently, the BAME Staff Network has developed ten Guiding Principles for Race Equality.
This event will focus on two of the guiding principles:
1. Respect the stories and identities of BAME staff and students.
2. Centre the collective expertise of BAME staff and students.
The purpose of these events is to have open, honest conversations with diverse voices from a range of experiences and backgrounds to help facilitate positive change and ultimately educate the University community to make a difference, both in their professional and personal lives.
In preparation for the event, you are invited to submit questions for Mike. You can do so via the booking form, where you can also share any thoughts you may have for future events in the series.
The event is open to all staff and students and you can register your place here. Prior to the event, we’d also encourage attendees to view our resources covering various aspects of race, racism and becoming anti-racist if you haven’t done so already.