Calls for greater diversity, especially in relation to the appointment of arbitrators, have been prevalent for some time in the international arbitration community, followed by several initiatives being set up to address the issue. While the primary focus of the diversity debate has been on gender, there have also been calls to expand and diversify the profile of the arbitrator pool to include more non-Western and non-White arbitrators. For several years, scholars and practitioners have argued for countless benefits of increased racial diversity, such as an increased acceptability and legitimacy of the arbitration process. There is a consensus that in a deliberative process like ADR, practitioners should reflect their claimants’ demographics. The existence of diverse panels helps further the aims of meticulous and accurate fact-finding approaches. Similarly, they argue that the lack of racial diversity may directly and negatively affect the quality of arbitration awards. This blog post will focus on the lack of diversity of African arbitrators appointed to resolve international arbitration proceedings, as well as initiatives that are being set up to address such issues. The focus on African ethnicity is given for two reasons: 1) African countries are no strangers to arbitration. Nearly 100 arbitral institutions exist across Africa. 2) There has been an increase of arbitration proceedings emanating from African regions, while there has been a minimal growth in the ethnic diversity of arbitrators appointed to resolve these disputes. This article was originally published on https://commercialarbitrationineurope.wordpress.com/2021/06/29/diversity-in-arbitration-the-lack-of-racial-diversity-in-international-arbitral-tribunals/
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BackgroundIn the Netherlands, there has been a strong increase in diversity among students in recent decades. Even though access for previously underrepresented groups based on economic status, ethnicity or culture has been realised to a certain extent, differences in student performance between groups persist. Research shows that teacher performance influences student achievement and that this influence is more pronounced for 'non-western students'. This creates a need for reflection on the way teachers cope with their increasingly diverse student population. This paper explores the attitudes of Dutch teachers in higher vocational education towards their diverse student population and the translation of these attitudes into teaching practice.MethodsTwenty-five teacher teams at two universities of applied sciences participated in this research. The teams came from a broad range of programmes that educate students for different future professions. A mixed method methodology was used to gather data, in which the qualitative method was most substantial. Focus group interviews on diversity and student achievement were held with each teacher team. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed to all 274 participants, which was completed by 215 teachers. Data from the questionnaire were analysed using SPSS. In order to analyse the qualitative data we used AtlasTI. Because we applied a grounded approach, allowing teachers to form their own ideas on both diversity and student achievement, we used a similar approach in the first analytical phase. In a second phase, we compared the concepts arising from the grounded theory approach with concepts from the literature.Results and conclusionsAround 40% of the teachers repudiated the influence of diversity on student achievement and did not take student diversity into account in their teaching practice. Problems regarding the student achievement of students or groups thereof are considered as something that the students, the educational institution or society at large should cope with, not teachers themselves. Of the teachers, 60% recognised diversity among students, but mainly based on students’ shortcomings and perceived problems. A minority of this 60% not only recognised but also understood diversity’s effect on student achievement. Teachers do not always translate this understanding into their teaching practice. They feel they lack the skills, knowledge or time to do so. Teachers seemingly translate their understanding of diversity into their didactic and pedagogical approaches only when these conditions are met.
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We hopen dat het nieuwe jaar voor iedereen goed is gestart. Ons lectoraat Diversiteitvraagstukken heeft de laatste periode van 2023 zeker niet stilgezeten. In deze nieuwsbrief delen we al deze activiteiten graag met jullie. Ook kun je lezen waar we op dit moment mee bezig zijn. De afgelopen periode kenmerkte zich ook als een zeer intensieve tijd waarin de oorlog in Gaza en de verkiezingsuitslag in Nederland een grote impact hadden op de gevoelens van inclusie, zowel binnen de samenleving als binnen onze eigen hogeschool. Samen met de Taskforce Diversiteit en Inclusie en de leden van de Werkgroep Sociale Veiligheid binnen Hogeschool Inholland organiseren we als reactie op de verzoeken vanuit de hele organisatie periodiek gesprekken met het CvB waarin we het met elkaar hebben over de betekenis en impact van deze gebeurtenissen in de klas en in een team, maar ook voor individuele studenten en medewerkers. Hierover verschijnt binnenkort informatie op Iris. Als lectoraat Diversiteitvraagstukken staan we voor een inclusieve omgeving en beogen we met ons werk daarin, hoe klein wellicht ook, een bijdrage te leveren. En ik ben trots op wat we de afgelopen periode hebben gedaan. Vragen of verzoeken naar aanleiding van deze nieuwsbrief kunnen worden gestuurd naar: Machteld.deJong@inholland.nl Veel leesplezier! Namens het hele team van Diversiteitvraagstukken, Machteld de Jong We hope that the new year is off to a great start for each and every one of you. Our Diversity research group has certainly not been idle during the last term of 2023. We are pleased to share all those activities with you in this newsletter. You can read about what we are up to right now as well. The past term also turned out to be quite an intensive period, in which the war in Gaza and the election results in the Netherlands severely impacted people’s perceptions of inclusion, both in society and within our own university of applied sciences. In response to requests from the entire organisation, we are cooperating with the Diversity and Inclusion taskforce and the members of the ‘Social Safety at Inholland University of Applied Sciences’ working group to organise periodic meetings with the Executive Board, during which we will discuss the significance and impact of these events in the classroom and within our teams, but also how they affect individual students and employees. Information on this will be posted to Iris soon. Here in the Diversity research group, we are committed to being an inclusive environment and aim to contribute to this through our work, however small that contribution might be. And I am proud of what we have achieved during the past term. Any questions or requests in connection with this newsletter can be directed to Machteld.deJong@inholland.nl Happy reading! On behalf of the entire Diversity Studies team, Machteld de Jong
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The main aim of the project is to provide new research in the arts by focusing on the concept of the inter-sensorial as an essential text for the creation of art and culture. It is designed to foreground the role of the sensorium as an underpinning source for many aspects of thought and cultural heritage. This project will blend visual arts with applied arts and traditional local traditions, revealing new light on the artistic facets and customs which are usually overlooked.The extended residencies will promote transnational mobility for emerging artists, facilitating international relationships between different artistic and cultural contexts within the EU. This will promote transnational interconnectivity between artists and cultures, creating a resourceful intercultural fertilisation, endorsing cultural diversity, social inclusion and most of all, further research on the intercultural facets.Through the various side-activities to take place during the mobilities of the artists, the project aims to strengthen and develop diverse audiences by producing the necessary elements for a dialogue, illustrating interpretations of rich layers of tangible and intangible heritage and legacies of European countries related to the tradition of sensorial experiences and how they evolved around traditional customs. Furthermore, it also aims to rethink and project new and innovative ways for documenting, preserving and communicating data to different audiences.
Wet and healthy peatlands have a strong natural potential to save carbon and, due to their waterbuffering capacity, play an important role in managing periods of excessive rains or droughts. Yet, inNWE regions large areas of peatlands are drained for peat mining, agriculture or forestry, whichmakes them CO2 emission sources rather than sinks. By restoring the capacity to buffer carbon andwater, BUFFER+ partners aim at climate change adaptation and mitigation in NWE regions, while atthe same time restore biodiversity and create new revenue streams.BUFFER+ involves 21 partners and 7 Associated Organisations from regions
Many Caribbean reefs have shifted from coral-dominated to algal-dominated ecosystems. The high algae cover reduces coral recruitment, making the reef unable to recover from other disturbances and resulting in flatter reefs with lower biodiversity. One of the reasons for the proliferation of algae is a mass die-off of the herbivorous sea urchin Diadema antillarum in the early 1980s. Natural recovery of Diadema populations is slow to non-existent, making active restoration of this important grazer a top priority in Caribbean coral reef management, especially since Diadema densities were reduced by another mass mortality event in 2022. The marine park organizations of Saba and St. Eustatius want to restore Diadema populations by restocking cultured individuals. However, important knowledge gaps need to be addressed before large numbers of Diadema can be restocked on the reef. Current culture methods can only produce a limited number of competent larvae. In addition, only 8% of the settlers survive and after restocking, survival on the reef is low as well. In the RAAK PRO Diadema II project, the bottlenecks in Diadema culture will be addressed by comparing larval survival across multiple culture methods and investigating the relation between larval size and post-settlement survival. Growing-out juveniles at sea is likely to help prepare them for life in the wild, while restocking at an optimal size might also increase survival. Finally, a thorough restocking site selection based on high shelter availability and settlement rates will increase the long-term Diadema densities. The acquired knowledge and developed practices will be verified in a larger scale restocking experiment involving at least 5000 Diadema urchins. By restoring Diadema populations through restocking, macroalgae will be more intensively removed and corals will have a chance to settle and to survive, increasing the ability of the reef to cope with other stressors.
Lectorate, part of NHL Stenden Hogeschool
