A panel of inspirational guest speakers attended our Wembley Campus to talk to students for our Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Conference.
The event, along with the conference that occurred at the Etihad Campus was put together by UCFB’s employability and careers planning team.
The panel included current and former professional athletes, as well as sports journalists and ambassadors, all of whom are championing the conference to tackle discrimination across sport.
Jason Lee, a former professional footballer who played for clubs including Lincoln City, Nottingham Forest and Peterborough United, was hopeful the event could have an impact.
He said: “I’m hoping the talk can be educational, impactful and most importantly, inspiring.
“Give them some tools to not sit there in silence and speak up, and talk about allyship, we need to support each other. We’re all dealing with discriminatory events and things happening in our lives.”
Another member of the panel was British wheelchair basketball player Clare Griffiths, who spoke about how important events like this are.
She said: “It’s really important to shift mindset around inclusion generally.
“Unconscious biases throughout society need to come more to the forefront to prevent people from being discriminated against, when they have great talent that we can recruit.”
Sky Sports News reporter and presenter Dharmesh Sheth was one who said the event did indeed have an impact, as he was one who had learned something about modern day discrimination.
He added: “It’s opened my eyes how companies can make such quick decisions on who they’re going to recruit, from what background they’re from, or the name or picture of the candidate.
“When I started out it was simply about my boss saying I was ready to do the job, and the challenge I had was proving to him that I was able enough to do that job.”
To find out more about UCFB’s employability and career planning team, and more events they plan, click here.
