Lessah Mandoloma receives outstanding ED&I Champion award
The winners of the 2024 MPLS Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) Awards have recently been announced and we are pleased to report that Biology DPhil student Lessah Mandoloma was the winner of the Outstanding ED&I Champion – Student category.
These awards honour staff and students within the division who have made outstanding contributions to advancing ED&I, celebrating individuals and teams whose efforts are creating more inclusive and supportive environments for us all. The ED&I Awards provide a valuable opportunity to highlight the exceptional work being done across MPLS—work that might otherwise go unrecognised.
Lessah has been the driving force behind an impressive range of innovative activities to enhance inclusion in Biology and beyond, all alongside completing her DPhil. Notably, she helped organise an online event for graduate students to talk about global events and their impact on student wellbeing. In the context of devastating wars, natural disasters, and human suffering around the world, Biology students were able to come together in a safe space to talk about their own struggles and share resources to support each other. She has also helped create opportunities for African students to feel included in Oxford, with a freshers’ orientation for African students admitted to Oxford from across different departments. Lessah has been instrumental to developing exciting activities in her department, as well as engaging with divisional ED&I work through the ED&I Steering Group and Fellows.
We caught up with Lessah to hear about her experiences.
What motivated you to become involved in ED&I initiatives, and how did your journey begin?
My previous education has been in Africa (Malawi and Kenya), with different yet familiar cultures. Coming to Oxford felt very different and I didn’t realise how much of a challenge it was until much later. What I thought was going to be the most significant achievement of my life started to not feel like it should. I was fortunate to be surrounded by a very strong support system (my family, ICCS lab members and supervisors) but I realised that I was lucky and that may not be the case for every student. They may have similar experiences to mine but without that same support system and that would take a toll on one’s wellbeing. This realisation made me get involved in activities aimed at supporting each other and led to creating a space where people could share knowledge and experiences for informed planning and decision-making. I must say that these experiences also helped me in my role as the African universities ambassador when I joined the department, where my main role was to foster relationships between African universities and the biology department. Through this role, I realised there was much to contribute to MPLS’s EDI aspirations.
Is there someone who inspires you with their own ED&I work, either in your personal life, academia or in the public eye?
There are so many that I can think of, but I will only mention those I have had the privilege to work with very closely, and E.J. Milner-Gulland and Anne Makena come to mind. Also, Leela Hazzah and Colleen Begg from We Africa (a movement and career-development program that empowers women in conservation across sub-Saharan Africa). Their incredible work and innovativeness in embracing diversity, equality and inclusion through different initiatives encourage me. They are the people I have looked up to when it comes to embodying what it means to use power and privilege to create opportunities for underrepresented communities. The impressive EDI projects that students championed across the MPLS also inspired my initiatives.
How do you balance your academic responsibilities with your commitment to ED&I work, and what advice would you give to other students looking to make a similar impact?
Mostly through collaboration. I do not do this work alone. For example, the fresher’s orientation that we do is part of an AfOx initiative that I take part in. Activities do not need to be grand events that require a lot of resources and effort to plan and execute to have an impact. I use the same systems that are available and include EDI-related activities. So I would say doing it with others who are passionate, whether students or academics, made it a bit easier than if I had to do it alone.
What changes or improvements in ED&I would you like to see within the academic community, and what do you think is the role of students in driving this change?
Getting more people involved will strengthen the collective voices and ensure that MPLS is as inclusive as possible. Collaboration with different groups within the department could also be great. I primarily work with either AfOx or people affiliated with ICCS and biology, but MPLS is huge, and collaboration across the division could bring great results. There is a lot of support but it needs better awareness. Improved awareness of EDI will show that it isn't this isolated thing that one has to do or have exceptional skills in but can be an integrated thing we can all be involved in.
We thank Lessah for all she does within the department and beyond and congratulate her on this recognition.
To read more about the awards and this years winners see: MPLS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Awards 2024 — Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division
