Gender grantees 2022

Gugu Sibandze

University of Eswatini

Gugu Sibandze is the Chairperson of the Equal Opportunity Committee at the University of Eswatini, which is in the process of drafting an equal opportunity policy for the university. The grant will be used to host workshops on gender equity matters within the university, as well as engage all stakeholders on the draft policy.  The overall impact will be to address the gender bias that still exists in Higher Institutions of learning in Eswatini.

Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi

University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi is an associate professor, and an experienced environmental biochemist at the University of Port Harcourt where she is the Ag. Director of the Exchange and Linkage Programmes Unit. Eucharia is passionate about monitoring and understanding soil-water quality, and looking to use her patented technology to help affected environments. She is enthusiastic about gender courses, science communication/diplomacy and evidence-informed decision-making. Eucharia is looking to build capacity of STEM-women and engage administration to support gender responsive practices at her university.

Professor Dr Hazrina Ghazali

University Putra Malaysia

Professor Ghazali will organize a one-day workshop in supporting female academics. The workshop focuses on problems and challenges faced by female academics in achieving key performance indicators relating to research and publication. It is hoped that the views and experiences shared by the female academics will propose strategic measures and overcome the challenges faced. This project is led by Professor Ghazali, lecturer in Human Resource Management, and Dr Siti Nurhayati Khairatun, lecturer in Regulatory and Policy.

Dr Irene Kafui Vorsah Amponsah

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Dr Amponsah is a Data Analyst and Senior Lecturer. She promotes the learning and practice of statistics through research (computational statistics), teaching and mentorship. The ACU gender grant will help her to support the statistics female mentee to appreciate the use of statistics and its applications in all fields of life. This will help empower their computational and leadership skills to guide their career goals towards achieving SDGs 4 & 5.

Professor Courtie Mahamadi

Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), Zimbabwe

Professor Mahamadi is a Director of Research and Innovation at BUSE. He holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and has vast experience in research and innovation management. Through the grant, Courtie seeks to coordinate a series of training workshops aimed at stimulating gender-inclusive research and innovation policies at BUSE. Best practices for implementing and mainstreaming the policies will be shared along with recommended tools and approaches for gender-inclusive research and innovation.

Arifa Ghani Rahman

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)

Arifa Ghani Rahman will identify the obstacles faced by Bangladeshi women researchers from the humanities that may have resulted from the over-prioritisation of STEM disciplines for women, particularly causing the marginalisation of women’s research in the humanities.

These concerns will be used to explore how ULAB's institutional policies can be improved and to raise awareness among Bangladeshi universities and policy-makers. Project collaborators are Arifa Ghani Rahman, Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, Dr. Tabassum Zaman, and Mohammad Zaki Rezwan, from the Department of English and Humanities.

Holland Gidney

University of Victoria in Canada

Holland Gidney is a Strategic Project Officer in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation at the University of Victoria in Canada. She is passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusion and looks forward to UVic hosting a workshop for faculty members on making research work environments more gender-diverse and welcoming to and inclusive of people of all genders. Participants will receive educational resources to support their efforts, some of which will be made available to other ACU members.

Janine Chalmers

HR Manager (Specialist Services) at the University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen will plan and deliver an educational programme around transgender awareness to support and promote our new Transgender Equality Policy for staff and students. This will engage senior staff as well as other front-line staff. This will help to support trans staff and students to experience a sense of belonging at the university and reach their full potential.

Karmini Pillay

Senior Lecturer, University of Witwatersrand

Karmini Pillay will be working closely with the Gender Equity Office to develop an online pilot study to mainstream gender equity into the syllabus for students and staff at the University of Witwatersrand. The programme is one of a number of measures adopted by the institution to educate its student and staff body on gender equity and prevent incidents of gender-based harm.