Mata Ayoub

Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Creative and Cultural Industries, Associate Professor
Kingston University

United Kingdom

Achieving my SFHEA in 2019 became the catalyst for working towards the role of school Director of Learning and Teaching, a role that I treasure.

In 2020, I made the decision to place my 19-year-old son who has autism into supported living. Through these transition years, I now have time to learn more about myself, for example, favourite colours, and my love for tennis. I have found concentrating on my own career has brought both personal and professional benefits. I was proud to be promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

The death of George Floyd was both distressing and motivating. I wanted to do something positive. In 2020, the opportunity arose to chair the BAME/People of Colour Network. I had not sought it, but I stepped up. It took me 4 months to really understand network leadership and to learn to speak, not just from my voice but on behalf of 160 members.

In 2021, ELIA EDI Working Group offered me a space to collaborate with colleagues across Europe. I found it challenging at first, but the opportunity afforded me the chance to speak more freely about my neurodiversity.

In 2022, I secured a tender with the Lord Mayor of London Office to shape and implement an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Volunteer Advisory Group. This was participatory research with the aim of supporting managers to better understand underserved communities’ experiences of volunteering. Most recently, I am participating in the UKRI EDI Caucus working on the strand ‘Neurodiversity in the Workplace’.