Closing keynote
"I'm not prejudiced, am I?" Tackling unconscious bias Professor Binna Kandola, Pearn Kandola
Professor Binna Kandola
Over the last 15 years organisations have created strategies, implemented policies and put training in place to combat discrimination and encourage diversity and inclusion. While successive governments have introduced more and more anti-discrimination legislation. But despite these efforts there is a feeling that progress has been slow. The structural aspects e.g. policies, champions, networks, are necessary but evidently not sufficient.
This closing keynote will look at a relatively neglected area, that of bias. It has been neglected for two reasons: firstly, we do not like to think of ourselves as being biased and secondly, it is a very difficult topic to discuss. If we are to make progress in diversity then we need to address both of these factors.
The focus of the presentation will be our unconscious biases; those that we may not even be aware we have. The most recent research on the topic will be shared together with the experiments carried out which give us pointers not only for discussing bias but potentially, in certain situations, eliminating it.
Professor Binna Kandola is a chartered occupational psychologist, senior partner and co-founder of Pearn Kandola. His areas of expertise are diversity and inclusion, equal opportunities, assessment and development. Professor Binna Kandola was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list for his services to Disadvantaged People and Diversity.