Staff Events Calendar – United Kingdom

A webinar hosted by MyPlus

Wednesday 5th May 2021, 10.00am – 11.00am

Providing the expert careers guidance that students with disabilities require remains a challenging area for universities. In addition to engaging with disabled students and encouraging them to use the careers service, there are also challenges around guiding students on how to position their disability positively with an employer, accounting for differences on a CV and how to confidently request the support required during a recruitment process. There are also differences on opinions on whether specific careers event and workshops for those with disabilities are required, and how effective they are.

Some universities are making great headway in this space and this webinar provides the opportunity to hear from those universities and to allow others to learn from them. In addition to hearing about strategies and initiatives that have been effective, our speakers will also share how they went about it and what was critical to their success.

During this webinar, delegates will have the opportunity to:

• Learn how other universities successfully engage with students with disabilities.
• Hear how careers services work with other key stakeholders, including disability services
• Understand the critical success factors in providing support to students with disabilities
• Explore the effectiveness of different skills sessions and training events

This webinar will be delivered by Helen Cooke, CEO of MyPlus and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Speakers:

Catherine Alexander

Catherine has been a Careers Adviser at Cambridge University Careers Service since 2008.   She works with undergraduates, postgraduates and alumni from those who are taking their first steps in working out what career path they might want to follow through the recruitment process to career changers further on in their careers.

As lead disability adviser at the Careers Service Catherine is passionate about advocating for, and supporting, students with disability, long term illness and mental health difficulties with the transition to work and from there to successfully navigate their careers.   She works closely with the Disability Resource Centre and Student Welfare representatives to understand and respond to student need.

Catherine’s earlier career was in the cultural sector, working for 15 years at the South Bank Centre and subsequently at Cambridge City Council Arts and Entertainments department before her own career change.  She studied for her Diploma in Careers Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education at Warwick University.

Lucy Crittenden

Lucy is Head of Career Services at Birkbeck, University of London, having previously managed Graduate Recruitment at a global law firm.  In her current role Lucy leads the careers provision for students and graduates at Birkbeck, supporting them to realise their career ambitions and make and take opportunities to fulfil their potential as innovators, practitioners, employees and entrepreneurs.

The University admits a much larger proportion of students with disabilities than the sector as a whole: over 23% of their full-time entrants in 2016/17 disclosed a disability compared with 13% in the sector (HESA 2017/18 data).   Lucy designed and implemented Birkbeck’s Ability Programme for students with a disability or long-term health condition.  Working closely with the Disability & Dyslexia and Wellbeing Services, the programme comprises bespoke workshops, employer-led sessions, inspirational speakers and paid internships funded by the Ian Karten Trust.

Catherine Dove

Catherine is a final-year Modern Languages undergraduate at the St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. She contracted meningitis in her first term at university, which left her with a long-term disability – and a passion for disability inclusion and representation. It was this experience and drive to improve access and inclusion that she brought to her elected role as Disability, Health Conditions and Neurodiversity Officer for St. Hilda’s College in her second year, and to her voluntary commitment as a trained peer mentor for Meningitis Now.

Catherine has worked closely with the Oxford Careers Service throughout her degree to support her with her career goals in the Civil Service. She was selected to participate in Leonard Cheshire’s Change 100 programme in 2020, through which she spent three months as Communications and Engagement Assistant with Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Together with the advice she received from the Oxford Careers Service, Catherine used her own experience of seeking opportunities as a disabled student to write a guidance article for disabled and/or neurodiverse students seeking job opportunities for the first time, which was published in Tabou Magazine in September 2020.

Keren Coney

Keren Coney is a Careers Adviser at Liverpool John Moores University and Co-Chair of the AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) Disability Task Group.  She is co-author of AGCAS’ annual ‘What Happens Next?’ reports, which examine the destinations of UK disabled graduates.  With a particular concern for disabled students and graduates and the challenges that exist when many of these individuals seek to enter and succeed in the workplace, Keren regularly speaks on this topic at conferences, events and training sessions.  In addition, Keren is currently studying for a PhD that seeks to explore what can be done to support autistic students to successfully progress to employment when they graduate, based at the Autism Centre for Education and Research at The University of Birmingham.

Wherever you are in your disability agenda, this webinar will enable you to benefit from best practice and fuel you with fresh and insight to take away.

Members of the MyPlus Universities’ Club are eligible for five complimentary places at our webinar and the cost of additional places for members to attend is £50. The cost for non-members to attend is £95 per delegate.