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Two research students in the Department of Psychiatry who set up the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club outline steps to take for those who want to set up similar initiatives.

Graphical illustration of three students sitting down and reading books © Shutterstock

Maya Ogonah and Anabelle Paulino created and have spent the last year running the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club – a group that analyses and discusses academic papers which have themes relating to both race and psychiatry. It has been a huge success and is something that the Department will continue to host this academic year.

Here are Anabelle and Maya’s 12 steps for setting up a special interest academic group in your department.

 

A graphical illustration of four people holding up the letters spelling 'TEAM' (Picture credit: Freepik)© Freepik

1. Make it a team effort

  • Ask your fellow colleagues and students if they would like to be involved in organising the project. It helps share the workload but also promotes collaboration and creativity.
  • It can be helpful to have a senior member of the department ‘sponsor’ the group to help with support and visibility.

I don’t think I would have set this up without Anabelle, I think it’s been really nice to do that with a fellow student and we sit next to each other - so it made it much easier." Maya

Members of the People and Culture committee in a meeting© Department of Psychiatry/Stuart GillespieMembers of the People and Culture committee in a meeting

2. Get support and advice 

  • If you have a Race Equality Working Group or similar People and Culture initiatives and teams in your department, approach them and see what ideas they have and how they can help support with setting up and advocating for your idea.
  • Find out if there are people in your department who can help you with logistics like booking rooms and organising catering.

I think we’re quite lucky that they’re quite flexible in the Psychiatry Department, in terms of us having this new idea and them giving us tools to try and be able to make it happen. Just something even as simple as knowing which room to book when, how to get catering in and who gets charged for it is helpful. The Race and Equality Working Group helped us with some of those more logistical processes. Some of the Professional Services Staff, like our reception team, have been incredibly helpful with making this happen and trying to keep it running smoothly." Anabelle

If you don’t have a Race Equality working group, go to an equivalent because they’ll know more about the departmental structure." Maya

Anabelle and Maya co-chairing the Race and Psychiatry Journal ClubAnabelle and Maya co-chairing the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club

3. Have a vision for how sessions will run

Think about the format and structure you’d like for your group:

  • how often it will run
  • what size of group
  • what kind of format
  • what rooms would work best
  • Have a chair or co-chair who can steer the meeting, help manage discussions and ensure it runs to time. Also ensure someone is taking minutes that you can refer back to.

We were quite intentional in booking the conference room, because we wanted to have more of a roundtable discussion." Maya

I think it’s about having an idea of what you want the club to look like, but also being open to how it evolves. At the beginning, we weren’t sure if it was going to be more people presenting on any relevant work, or people presenting on their own work, and I think it evolved to be a mix." Anabelle

A graphical illustration of a man doing some calculations© Freepik

4. Find out if you can get some budget to run the group

  • Organisations or working groups in your department may be able to give you a budget to cover the cost of discretionary spending, or in supporting speakers with travel and so on
  • Investigate if other sources of funding are available, such as the university’s Diversity Fund

We have quite a committed turn up and they wouldn’t care if there weren’t snacks but I think that’s nice in the first one or two to offer.

We’ve been lucky so far that everybody’s been happy to talk for free, but I think it’s nice having a budget, especially if you expect people to come and travel or they want to be paid for their time, I think it's very fair and it’s not offered enough in academia. Especially if you’re being inclusive of people that have childcare responsibilities, so having some system in place to fund that would be something to think about." Maya

A graphical representation of a clock, calendar, checklist and notepad and pen.© Freepik

5. Sort the logistics

  • Work out what time and day would be best to get people along.
  • Make a room booking early as rooms can get booked up quickly.
  • Start finding speakers well in advance.


Just thinking about how much administration goes into it, and how much planning in advance, is important. Being able to figure out the logistical structure is probably as important, if not more important, than figuring out who you actually want to come speak. Thinking about how it is actually going to work month to month, having it be sustainable." Anabelle

A graphical representation of a clickboard with a checklist on© Freepik

6. Create a checklist 

  • Make a to-do list of all your recurring monthly tasks
  • Have set-times for specific tasks that need to be completed for each meeting. E.g. always send out emails a week in advance of the meeting.
  • Create a shared document to note down interesting speakers or papers, and use this to organise and strategise for your upcoming meetings.

Birds eye view of two groups of people working at tables© MPLS/John Cairns

 

7. Ensure you are reaching your target audience

  • Consider whether information about your group could be incorporated into departmental induction documents or whether there are introductory meetings you could attend to talk about and publicise the group.
  • Find out the best way to get the message out to the department or more widely. If there is a communications team, ask for their help. It could go on a department newsletter or you may be able to send an all-staff email, but check with your communications colleagues first.

Example newsletter text:

Race and Psychiatry Journal Club:

Students and staff are invited to attend our next monthly Race and Psychiatry Journal Club on <DATE> at <TIME> in the <ROOM> (and virtually via Teams) where Anabelle and Maya will present <NAME OF PRESENTATION>.

Cakes will be provided.

Example email:

Dear all,

We hope you are doing well! Students and staff are invited to attend our next monthly Race and Psychiatry Journal Club on <DATE> at <TIME> in the <ROOM> (and virtually via Teams) where Anabelle and Maya will present <NAME OF PRESENTATION>.

We have attached a copy of the paper we will be presenting.

Cakes will be provided to in-person attendees! We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday!

Best Wishes, Maya and Anabelle . 

  • Previous presentations are available on Race and Psychiatry Journal Club Share Point
  • To provide feedback on the current format of the journal club, or express your interest in presenting, you can submit an application using the link
  • You can consider subscribing directly to the Race and Psychiatry JC mailing list here 

 

Sharepoint page for Race and Psychiatry Journal Club

8. Set up an online hub for your group

  • Have an online space where you can clearly set out your aims, share resources and documents and have your contacts available. This could be a Teams group or you could see if there is a page on your intranet, Sharepoint or website to publicise. Talk to your comms colleagues about setting one up.

We always sent an email out a week before the meeting was due to take place, and made sure it also went on the department’s weekly digest of events.

It is a good idea to map out specific tasks that need to be completed and how far in advance they need to be done.” Anabelle

 

A meeting of the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club - Maya is pictured at the front, with Anabelle second from the right.A meeting of the Race and Psychiatry Journal Club - Maya is pictured at the front, with Anabelle second from the right.

9. Establish a core group of people who you know will regularly turn up

  • Attendance numbers may fluctuate depending on people’s timetables, so it can be useful to rely upon a core group of attendees who you know will come each week.
  • Set up a mailing list, so interested people can get emails direct to them about the meetings. This can easily be done on university systems with permission from the relevant people, such as communications and/or IT.

Having a core group of people that turned up, having consistency is helpful rather than having a lot of people coming for the first time and then not afterwards." Anabelle

A graphical illustration of people talking© Shutterstock

10. Think about how to manage difficult conversations and emotive subjects

  • Be sensitive to the needs and experiences of members of the group
  • Think about what you might do if any conflicts arise or attendees find any discussions distressing.
  • Talk to senior people in the Department, such as your People and Culture or HR team, to get advice on this if necessary.

We acknowledge the potential emotional dynamics that may arise when talking about race and ethnicity, and allow space for people to express themselves but try to guide the conversation back to constructive dialogue. We also try to ensure diverse voices are heard, and that people feel free to bring lived experiences into the conversation. However, at the end of the day, the journal club was founded to discuss literature and research on race and psychiatry, therefore we try to keep it academic, not personal.” Maya.

Race and Psychiatry Journal Club manual front page, reads: 'Race and Psychiatry Journal Club Manual, Anabelle Paulino and Maya Ogonah, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Trinity 2024'

11. Embed structures and processes 

  • Have a clear set of processes that can be followed by someone else during busy periods or if the original organisers move on.
  • Create a manual or guide that details specific timelines and steps for running the group, ensures consistency and/or designate specific contacts to reach out to if there are any questions.

Having a manual or how-to-guide has been helpful in ensuring all tasks are done, and can be very helpful when delegating task across a team of people. We understand it’s quite a bit of work. Hopefully, for the next people, it will be less work because we’ve scoped out how to do it and we have a checklist of things to do each month that can be passed on." Maya

Two speech bubbles set in a frame© Freepik

 

12. Get feedback

  • Ensure you make time and have easy ways to receive feedback so that you can continue to make the group as relevant and interesting as possible.
  • You can set up a feedback form for free on Microsoft Forms so you can have honest anonymous feedback.
  • Set up a way for people to let you know their thoughts informally in-person, perhaps at the end of sessions.

We had made a feedback form, as people might be shy about sharing ideas in person, but we also just asked people. Most people preferred giving us informal feedback, but it can depend on the club." Anabelle

Getting feedback from people who are turning up is very helpful. Everyone was really open with us and willing to help." Maya

 

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