This year, for the first time  ICCVS staff and PhD students participated in a dedicated Intercultural & Diversity Management Workshop. The workshop was led by prof. Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka and dr Magdalena Żadkowska from the University of Gdańsk, who have a broad coaching experience in this field.

The activity is part of the Human Resources Strategy for Researcher (HRS4R) of the University of Gdańsk that has received the Award HR Excellence in Research in 2016. ICCVS contributed to the recent periodic update of the Action Plan and prepared in 2021 its input after a need analysis at ICCVS (focus group meeting).

The workshop took place in the beautiful  Sobieszewo Island situated on the Baltic Sea, between the Gdańsk Bay and the delta of the Vistula river.

The first part of the workshop was dedicated to learn more about working in an intercultural environment and benefitting from diverse teams. The following questions and issues were tackled:

• Why do we need intercultural competences? – benefits of multiculturalism for individuals and organizations
• Stages of development of cultural sensitivity – how to develop sensitivity to differences?
• Intercultural differences – Poland vs. countries of origin

The second part of the workshop was focused on jointly proposing a series of activities strengthening our intercultural community, inclusiveness, diversity and internationalization to be conducted at ICCVS during the upcoming academic year.

Magdalena Dziki