Talks and Workshops – Toronto TIDE

TIDE delivers talks or workshops designed to start conversations about inclusion, illustrate common patterns of (unconscious) bias, provide practical tools to mitigate bias in academic practices and processes, and discuss promising ways to create more diverse and equitable unit cultures. TIDE content is constantly evolving, and draws on the literature, the experiences of members at all levels of the professoriate and in leadership, and the ideas, programs, and challenges shared with us by colleagues across the university.

Talks typically include relevant data on representation, an explanation of how bias can affect professional decisions and assessment, examples of bias from the literature, and practical advice for personal practices or structural changes that can increase inclusion. Talks end with time for questions, and slides are shared after the talk including links to resources.

Our Introductory talks are an excellent way to begin education on bias and inclusion. More information about these talks is shared below.

Workshops include a talk followed by break-out group discussions centred on the analysis of scenarios that capture real-world manifestations of bias and exclusionary practices in academic contexts. Break-outs are followed by a plenary discussion, including additional slides providing resources on mitigating the main challenges in the scenario.

Since 2016, TIDE has been a volunteer organization made up of University of Toronto faculty from various disciplines. Despite not having an operating budget from the University, TIDE has successfully delivered education sessions to over 4,000 colleagues. Additionally, TIDE developed an impactful online module series that central administration recommends for all faculty involved in academic recruitment and promotion processes. TIDE continues to offer Fee-for-service sessions for groups outside of U of T.

TIDE can provide introductory level talks (described below) or workshops or talks customized to your needs.

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Introductory Talks

Understanding unconscious bias is an important first step to making structural and personal changes that support equity and inclusion.

This talk is offered at an introductory level.

This session will build on the learnings of the Unconscious Bias 101 talk and will provide concrete guidance to faculty on advancing equity and inclusion, by making changes at the individual level and spurring a transformation at the structural level.

We recommend that registrants either attend the Unconscious Bias 101 & 102 talks and/or complete the Unconscious Bias Education Modules prior to attending this workshop (University of Toronto faculty and staff: if you wish to document completion of these modules you must review them in SuccessFactors (Module 1, Module 2, Module 3, Module 4 )

The purpose of this workshop is to:

Demonstrate how structural changes to institutional culture and policies can advance equity and inclusion
Discover ways to mitigate bias and cognitive errors in peer assessment and in recruitment/hiring
Explore concepts of privilege, anti-racism, intersectionality and allyship