Can you think of a time when an assumption that you made about somebody else turned

out to be wrong? Can you think of the last time you learned something new from
someone else, who you perceived as being different to you? Maybe because they are
more junior, or you perceive them as less experienced than you. Can you think of
the last time you had a light bulb moment of realization that stuck with you and
has changed you as a person since? I wonder how easy or difficult you found it to
think of examples to answer those questions. And let me try and convince you why
it's important for us to have answers to these questions. When I came to academia,
I had all the hallmarks of being an imposter. I come from a legal background. I was
formerly a corporate lawyer, so I came to academia without a master's or a PhD. And
I come from a working class background , and I'm first generation in my family to
go to uni or to have a professional job . And none of these things are very typical
of academics or corporate lawyers. So since I left my hometown of Hull, almost 14
years to the day, I've existed in a lot of spaces where I haven't felt like I truly
belonged , where I didn't fit a mold that seems to be expected of me, where I
struggle to be my authentic self. That was until I started listening to others, and
I discovered so many of the people feel that way too. I wonder how many of you in
this room have felt that way before. So I came to academia, desperate to learn how
to be a good educator. I didn't have any teaching experience in my previous roles,
and I assumed that this was something that I could be told how to do by people more
than me who had loads of experience. So I started with listening to them, and of
course I got loads of really good tips. But I was also quite shocked at how much
stereotyping and negativity I had about students. People were just telling me in a
really straightforward way, "This is what students are like." They would say things
like, "Students from Nigeria are like this, but students from Canada, you have to
teach them like that. Mature students, they're all like this, but the ones who come
when they're 18, oh well, they're all like that." And I thought, "okay, well, what
do I know? Classic imposter style." But over time, I started to question as I got
to know these students and I thought, "hang on a minute, am I missing half of the
story here?" Maybe to be a good educator, I should actually listen to the people
who I am attempting to support in getting their education. So that's when I made a
commitment to start listening to students. And through that, I was exposed to so
many different stories, and I was surprised by how many parallels student
experiences had with my own, but also so many differences that I had never, ever
considered. I was exposed to stories that just to me, some of the barriers students
had experienced just seemed completely insurmountable. And they faced these
barriers because of who they are, who they want to be, who they used to be, who
they love, what they look like, what they believe in, what they sound like. And
every ten students were being shown a sign that says, you don't belong here if you
don't fit our mold. And once I knew about these stories, I couldn't continue being
complicit in upholding this idea of a traditional mold. Their stories became my
story, and those stories consequently became the purpose for my research career. As
I started to research into this concept of reverse mentoring, and over the years,
I've been doing now, hundreds of students from different underrepresented
backgrounds have worked with me and have mentored academic staff, support staff,
university leadership, campus police, senior legal professionals. Reverse mentoring
is about the intentional flipping of the power dynamics that exist in the
traditional order of things. So in the student teacher relationship, the teacher
becomes the mentee, i.e. the person who has much to learn and to gain by
understanding the lived experience expertise of their students. And it puts the
student in the position of mentor being the expert. And this challenges those
deficit narratives that so many students from underrepresented backgrounds have to
deal with every day. It places them as the expert. It seeks to empower those who
feel disempowered when we uphold traditions, norms, hierarchies. Because we are all
experts, despite this chronic onset of imposter phenomenon that so many of us feel,
we're all experts in our own lived experiences. Nobody knows you better than you.
But how much do you know about other people? Or how much do you try to know and
understand about other people who you perceive as different to you? And if you are,
or if you ever become someone who takes up space as a leader, as someone who has
power, authority or influence, what do you do or what will you do to embed the
voices of people who feel underrepresented in your organization, in the decisions
that you make? Because that is part of all of our role. So in listening to
students, as I say, I was exposed to all of these stories and it changed me in
terms of how I feel and how I think and who I am as a person. What I like about
reverse mentoring is its adaptability to different situations. So I talk about in a
teacher student context, but reverse mentoring can really be useful in any
situation where you've got a power structure, where there are people at opposite
ends of that power structure who would benefit from mutually understanding one
another better to improve culture. You can think about reverse mentoring really is
whatever you like. I use that label, but it's hard. It's about those who have power
in the traditional order of things, ceding that power intentionally and handing the
mic to those whose voices are less often heard within an organization or a
community. And yes, it has to start with that intentional act by the people who
usually hold the power. But there is evidence that over time, reverse mentoring can
have a trickle effect, a trickle up, and a trickle down effect that over time,
results in that power being maintained amongst people who have originally felt
underrepresented within an organization or a community. So it's been my mission
over the last few years to try and spread the word about reverse mentoring and its
role in institutional and departmental culture change. And in doing that, I've had
the privilege of being able to work with students from all walks of life. And these
students have come to my projects and worked as mentors to other people. They've
worked with me as co designers, as sounding boards, as allies, as supporters of the
project. But if there's one thing that stands out to me that all of these students
have shown me, it's the impact, the lasting impact that one person can have. And a
lot of these students come to my reverse mentoring work with more negative stories
about that sort of impact. The lecturer who talks about China to me and he said, ni
hao to me a few times in the corridor, but I'm from Malaysia. That person in class
who keeps using the wrong pronouns for me, even though I've told them so many
times, it feels like they do it on purpose. I met my personal tutor, and they
assumed that I was hung over and asked me how much I'd had to drink the night
before. But I don't drink because of my faith. Why do they make that assumption
about me? Is that what I'm supposed to be? The person in the seminar who mocked my
northern accent when I answered a question, I was actually feeling really anxious
about answering. I think next time I won't bother. These are things that might seem
small, but really are not small, that so many students are facing every day in just
trying to get on and get their degree. But, if we believe that one person can have
so much impact, then why don't we think about the good that one person can do? And
that's why I choose to focus my energy in this work. So in trying to sort of
epitomize reverse mentoring, I was like, "what example shall I talk about?" and so
many jumped out at me. But the ones that stood out most prominently to me was a
pair that I worked with. So a student of color who also identifies as queer,
neurodivergent, disabled, gender non-conforming and is estranged from a formerly
abusive family. Universities love putting labels on people and students in boxes.
And that student had had their authentic self stifled for so long in trying to be
put into boxes. The students said, after they'd mentored a member of staff who's
worked at the university for a long time. I felt so underrepresented my entire life
until I came and did reverse mentoring. I've never felt so included and so seen.
Asking for help isn't a nuisance. I've learned that I am not a nuisance. I've
established one of the greatest relationships I think I could ever have with
another human being. And I never, ever thought that would happen to me at
university. On the other hand, the staff member who was mentored by this student
talked about this being completely re-energized, seeing their role through a
completely new lens, having all this enthusiasm and fire to want to go out and
better support students. having had that little insight into what it can mean to
feel underrepresented. So through all that otherness and pain and exclusion, that
can feel really overwhelming to try to tackle within an institution like a
university. If we flip the narrative, we can create hope. And this pair for me and
so many other mentor and mentee pairs really epitomize the power that just one
relationship that is positive and empowering with someone in a position of
authority can have, when you are someone who has been failed by others at every
turn in your life. So listening to others is really important. Seek out the
opportunity to listen to other people as often as you can. But is listening enough?
Well, no. If we just
listen and we are the ones that have asked people to come and share their
vulnerability, their potential trauma, and we don't do anything in response, we are
part of the problem. Just listening is a trap, and that's why it's so important
that initiatives like reverse mentoring have a clear purpose for both the mentor
and the mentee. Reverse mentoring is a vehicle towards action, and it's the action
that we have to focus on. So project that I'm working on currently underrepresented
students mentoring staff leaders. But through that they are together co-creating
proposals to develop personal tutoring institutionally at the university. Together
as mentors and mentees, we become micro communities of underrepresentation. We are
catalysts for change, and underrepresentation becomes power within those micro
communities. But if listening without purpose is a trap , then having purpose but
no intention to change is an even bigger trap. So if you are someone who has power,
influence, leadership, and you ever get an opportunity to do reverse mentoring or
something similar, ask yourself are you willing to change? I know it can be
difficult, if you think you are an expert or a leader , to admit that there are
things that you don't know. But there are a lot of things about others that you
don't know and understand. So ask yourself, "Are you willing to be called out? Are
you willing to be part of conflict? Are you willing to be emotionally challenged?"
And if you're not, take a step back and ask yourself why? Because you've got some
pre-work to do. So I'm going to go back to those questions that I asked you at the
beginning, but I'm going to reframe them to look forward instead of looking back.
And I'm going to ask, "How might you? How might you create situations where the
assumptions that you hold about others can be changed?" How might you create
situations in which you can regularly learn from and empower people who you
perceive as different to you? How might you bring your community together to create
light bulb moments of change that improve the culture within your organization or
community? You might try reverse mentoring, you might try something else. But
whatever you do, think about how you hear and amplify the voices of the people that
feel underrepresented within your organization or your community , and think about
what your role is in that. Don't think there's someone else whose job this is. It's
not mine. It's all of our jobs. And it's important. So many mentors that have come
to my reverse mentoring projects have described it as a first time experience. This
is the first time someone asked me about who I am. The first time someone showed me
that they care about my identity. The first time I felt that I belonged to
something. Those first times are important. How can you be involved in creating
them? So listen. Yes, but beware of the listening trap. We must listen with
purpose. We must act and amplify collectively. And whatever we do, we must not let
opportunities for those light bulb moments pass us by. Thank you. (Applause)