COMMUNITY CLUSTERS
WISC aim to assemble clusters of people from across our community to work together to find new solutions to the issues that our members face. We believe that building peer communities within this network will be key to it’s ongoing success.
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If you have an idea for a future community cluster topic and would like work collaboratively with others to support the supramolecular chemistry community then we would love to hear from you!
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Get in touch by email (info@wisc.network). Alternatively, you can check out our existing clusters via the links below and get involved by contacting the cluster organisers.
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ONGOING CLUSTER PROJECTS
PARENTING CLUSTER
At WISC, we understand the challenges of balancing an academic career with caring responsibilities. Our Parents Cluster is lead by Dr Emily Draper, and is designed to offer support to academic parents and provide a platform for them to support each other.
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This cluster is designed to help parents and future parents within our community. We are now collecting data from parents and people thinking about becoming parents to inform how best we can benefit people in this area. With this information we will gather a list of resources and set up other initiatives based on the data collected, so please keep an eye out for this on the website. Also based on this data we will publish our findings and present a seminar on parenting and parental leave in Academia.
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If you would like to get involved, contribute to the questionnaires or have ideas on what is needed in the community please get in touch with Emily Draper by email Emily.Draper@glasgow.ac.uk or by the following social media links.
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WISC ARTWORK CHALLENGE
Get your kids involved in some artistic endevours!
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WISC colouring sheet: DOWNLOAD
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Add friends and family to your own Zoom call
(inspired by our mentoring circles - see below): DOWNLOAD
DISABILITY / CHRONIC ILLNESS / NEURODIVEGENCY CLUSTER
This cluster is for anyone who has experience of or interest in disability, chronic illness or neurodivergences. We are meeting every month. You are more than welcome to join!
If you'd like to find out more or be part of the cluster in the first instance please email j.s.leigh@kent.ac.uk.
NEW CLUSTER PROJECTS
This cluster is for anyone who is 'First Generation' that is the first in their family / friendship group to study at Higher Education level, and for anyone who would like to find out more about supporting First Gen's in supramolecular chemistry.
Literature shows that 1st Gen students face a lot of barriers when choosing an academic carrier. WISC is interested in the views and experiences of people who are 1st Gen and the differences to those who are not. If you are a researcher working in supramolecular chemistry and would like to support research on this important topic, please fill out our survey!
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If you'd like to find out more or be part of the cluster in the first instance please email info@wisc.network, and use the subject "First gen cluster".
FIRST GEN CLUSTER
If you are thinking about a new cluster, then it is important to first think about what you want the cluster to do
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is it primarily to provide support? If so, then it may be appropriate to set up a private facebook group or other space for people to talk in confidenceas first step
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would you like to research with/on your cluster? If so then we will need to look at the kind of questions you want to find answers to, the best methods to gather data to answer the questions, and to ensure that appropriate ethical approvals are in place
Then think about how you want the cluster to operate
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do you want the cluster to have regular meetings / activities (e.g. mentoring cluster),or is it more of a space for discussion?
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does the cluster need to be confidential? Ie would members be potentially harmedif others knew they identified as being members?
Once you know what you’d like the cluster to do, and it is set up, then you need to advertise and publicise its existence! WISC uses this website to advertise the new cluster, share links and information. To date we have had good success on twitter with @suprachemandusing our own personal networks. We also have a fb page, and will soon have operational Instagram and tiktokaccounts.
All WISC clusters need to be inclusive, non-discriminatory, and inline with WISC aims
and the ethos of supporting equity and diversity in the chemical sciences!
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