Diversity Day Inspiration Session

How can organizations create support for diversity and inclusion policy? Amar Bissumbhar asked me this question at the Diversity Day Inspiration Session on 11 May. I gave concrete tips based on our research, and was inspired by the contributions of Mohan Verstegen (he/him), Cheryl McDowall, Sharmila Angoelal and Navin Bhagwat.

💡 You can watch the inspiration session here. 

📸 Click here for photo’s to get an impression of the inspiration session.

📖 Curious the research I talked about during this session? Click here!

Government signs Declaration of Amsterdam

Last May 17, on IDAHOBIT, the Dutch government signed the Declaration of Amsterdam. In doing so, the government underlines its ambition to commit to improving the position of LGBTIQ+ colleagues in the workplace.

I was invited to explain the scientific rationale of the declaration in a panel discussion with Boris Dittrich, human rights activist and senator, Marjan Hammersma, secretary-general of OCW, and Christine Holtkamp, relationship manager at Workplace Pride.

It was a wonderful day, with poignant personal stories and reflections, beautiful music and dance, and a clear message to the Government as an employer to live up to its ambitions.

The event can be watched here

Interuniversity Network on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Kick-Off Event

Earlier this year, Valentina Di Stasio and I established the Interuniversity Network on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, with the aim of facilitating exchange between academics from Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences, working on topics related to the themes of diversity and inclusion in organizational settings. We aim to promote interdisciplinary exchange on our ongoing work, with a view on future collaborations in the form of co-creation of research and dissemination. Network members are, among others, experts on the topics of workplace inclusion, diversity policies, and inclusive leadership and their expertise spans many disciplines, such as applied data science and statistics, economics, and organizational and social psychology.

On May 10, we had a very successful kick-off meeting! During the meeting, members of the network got to know each other, shared interests, and discussed future network activities.

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Dutch Political Psychology Meetings: Passing the baton

It was in 2014 that Bert Bakker, Yphtach Lelkes, Alina Feinholdt and I established the Dutch Political Psychology Meetings for academics in the Netherlands and beyond with an interest in political psychology broadly defined. Little did we know that we would still be going strong nearly 10 years later. And while it can be especially hard to let go of successes, it is good to hand things over from time to time and make room for the next generation. Last Friday was my goodbye as a founder and organizer, and I was happy to yet again see a room full of both familiar and new faces. Very proud of what we accomplished and excited for (at least) another 10 years of inspirational talks and intergenerational exchange!

Wishing you all the best Maaike Homan, Chantal D'Amore, Ruthie Pliskin, and Bert Bakker!

English Handouts | Creating support for D&I Policy and SMART D&I Policy

Due to popular demand, our handouts with recommendations for making your D&I policies more impactful are now also available in English.

Check out the links below for handouts on creating support for D&I policy and for setting SMART D&I goals.

📖 Curious about how to create support for D&I policy? Read the handout here.

📖 If you want to know more about SMART D&I policy, click here.


These handouts result from a collaboration between Utrecht University, Foundation InclusieNL (Netherlands Inclusivity Monitor) and SER Diversity at work, supported by the Goldschmeding Foundation. For more information, see https://lnkd.in/epFS2Gdb

Handout All aboard | Creating support for diversity and inclusion policy

Handout Make diversity and inclusion policy SMART

Annual Report Goldschmeding Foundation: The power of connection | Striving for better together

The Goldschmeding Foundation recently published their annual report on 2022 The power of connection | Striving for better together.

It is a privilege to work with the Goldschmeding Foundation to link science and practice with the aim of contributing to an inclusive labour market. Through their annual report, we get an insight into the milestones of the supported projects.

💡 Read the annual report here!

A growing number of people change jobs, but companies often don't know why

Currently, the labour market is very tight. And so, more and more people are venturing to change jobs. Indeed, you can now negotiate better conditions. The companies where employees leave, however, often do not really know why people actually leave. And that is a missed opportunity!

Last Friday I was invited by Humberto Tan at NPO Radio 1 to talk about our research on exit interviews and their value for deepening diversity and inclusion policies in organizations.

🔉 Listen to it here!

💡 Curious about how to approach exit interviews? Find the handout here.

© ANP

BNR Podcast | The value of exit interviews for D&I policies

“Did departing employees feel safe, at home, and valued at the workplace?”

In a new episode of the podcast BNR Werkprofessor by BNR News Radio, I was interviewed by Wendy Van Ierschot about the value of exit interviews for improving organizational diversity and inclusion policies. I talked about our new handout Exit interviews: a wealth of information and why it is so important for organizations to think about diversity and inclusion not only in their recruitment, selection, and promotion processes, but also when guiding the exit of employees. Currently, organizations do not pay enough attention to employees' reasons for leaving, even though these may be indicative of a lack of inclusion and social safety in the workplace. By not inquiring about this in exit interviews, opportunities to gain crucial knowledge on this are missed.

🔉 Listen to the podcast (in Dutch) here!

💡 The handout “Exit interviews: A wealth of information” can be found here.

© BNR Werkprofessor







Dissertation Defense on LGBT+ campus climates

Congratulations to Dr. Zy Evangelista who did a fantastic job defending their dissertation on LGBT+ campus climates in the UK and the Philippines. It was a privilege to have been invited as external examiner and a pleasure to have discussed this important and well-executed research with Zy and internal examiner Lisa DeBruine. And I got to visit the beautiful city of Glasgow for the first time, which was an added bonus!

Congratulations also to Zy's supervisors Prof. Catherine Lido, Dr. Maxine Swingler, and Jason Bohan!