Welcome to our second Accommodating Diversity in the Workplace newsletter. Thank you to those who attend and engage with our webinar series, the discussions are always very interesting and insightful. If you missed it you can find out about and catch up with our 2025/2026 webinar series.

We hosted our 4th Accommodating Diversity in the Workplace conference at our Whiteknights Campus on the 8th June 2026 which included presentations on (in)fertility, parenthood, leadership and gender, menopause, neurodiversity, supporting EDI research and diversity training. Thank you to all the wonderful presenters, it was a very enjoyable and insightful day. If you missed the conference or any of the presentations you can catch up via the conference catch up webpage. We are planning 5th conference so watch this space.

If you would like to present in our 2026/2027 webinar series, have any suggestions for presenters, or would like to feature anything in our newsletters please contact Professor Sarah Jewell s.l.jewell@reading.ac.uk

Research News

Autism and The Workplace

Mahlia Amatina, as an autism author, artist and advocate, has written a series of five guidebooks focused on autism and the  workplace. They’re practical, compassionate resources designed specifically for academics, HR teams, managers, healthcare professionals and neurodivergent individuals – in short, anyone committed to building kinder, more inclusive work environments. The individual titles are:

You can find full details on Mahlia Amatina’s website and in the flyer.

Good Work for Autistic Women Toolkit

Claudia Plowden-Roberts, Institute for Employment Studies and Stevie Barnes, UCL who presented in our 4th conference have co-produced a fantastic  toolkit for employers, HR, line managers and autistic people:

Future of Work: Behind the masks – good work for autistic women

The toolkit covers in detail what good work for autistic women looks like, how employers can provide personalised support, inclusive attitudes, and environments shaped by understanding rather than stereotypes, and how inclusion can be embedded in leadership, HR practice, and everyday line management.

Gendered Language and Performance Reviews

Professor Sylvia Jaworska and Professor Giovanni Razzu from the University of Reading who have both presented in our webinar series have co-authored a paper on Gender Stereotypes, Language and Performance. in the European Economic Review. “This paper examines the impact of the evaluator’s gender and the language they use in performance reviews on the performance assessment of men and women employees.” Further Sylvia has written a Chapter – Flexing, driving, and diving –  on the gendered patterns of use of metaphors in performance reviews, as part of a book she has co-edited: The Feedback Society: Linguistic and Discursive Approaches

Event Calendar

2026/2027 monthly webinar series: October 2026-May 2027 (usually held on a Thursday at 1pm via MS Teams)

June 2027: 5th Accommodating Diversity in the Workplace Conference, details and call for abstracts to be released in due course.

Call for Research Participants (please share)

Breastfeeding and Return to Work: Call for Organisational Case Studies

As part of a 3-year Nuffield Foundation funded project on Maternal Wellbeing, Infant Feeding and Return to Paid Work, Professor Sarah Jewell and  Professor Sylvia Jaworska from the University of Reading have co-created a website to support breastfeeding and return to work, summarising the research and providing guides for both mothers and organisations. Feel free to use and share.

We are looking for organisations to take part as a case study to pilot these resources. within their workplaces.  We will introduce the resources, support their implementation, and gather feedback on their usefulness, accessibility, and effectiveness. We can also offer tailored support, if desired, with adapting communication pathways, policies, risk assessments, and other relevant communication practices. If your organisation is interested and to find out more please contact Professor Sarah Jewell (s.l.jewell@reading.ac.uk)