In conversation with Shaid Mahmood on community cohesion and EDI

Q: Why is community cohesion and inclusion so important for universities?

A: Universities are increasingly diverse. We've got such a range of nationalities, faiths and social and cultural backgrounds. It's important all those individuals feel they've come to an organisation or institution where they feel valued and welcome. 

We are places where academic freedom is central and where people have different perspectives, views, and voices and they want those aired. There is a natural tension in the way that universities operate, and that should be welcomed. What has changed more recently is that we can no longer be immune to what happens nationally and internationally. Recent geopolitical issues, such as the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, have shown this only too clearly. 

On Israel-Gaza, I led the university’s response to campus protests and encampments and worked closely with those affected, including our Palestinian, Jewish and Muslim students. This involved ensuring they received the support they needed; being responsive to the things that the whole university community was sharing with us and looking for opportunities to compromise to make progress on key issues and help people feel included.

During the 2024 summer riots, which affected parts of North East England, we worked with police and our partners to condemn in the strongest possible terms incidents of racism, ensure the welfare, safety and security of our students and staff but also to encourage support and compassion across our whole community. Our approach was replicated in 2025.

Through our work, we can help integrate our communities and focus on positive student experience – that's critical. 

Q: How can universities strike a balance between upholding freedom of speech and maintaining good campus relations?

A: We aim to reach a point where we're united in our shared commitment to mutual respect and understanding, while balancing this with freedom of speech. Part of that is about listening and maintaining really open lines of communication with our students and staff, working with and through our staff and student networks and societies. It also means consistently and robustly upholding freedom of speech within the law and academic freedom. 

At Durham University, we have a very diverse community from over 120 countries, and we work hard to try and provide a safe and supportive community for all.

We welcome the reality that all members of our community have an equal right to be here or any university, and to be heard. No individual’s place or voice outweighs another’s. That has to inform the work that we do around freedom of speech, to help create an environment that enables respectful discourse. At the same time, we recognise tension amongst individuals, teams and communities is natural. What matters is how we navigate that tension and allow open discussion to flourish. 

If there are challenges, we must respond to inappropriate behaviour and conduct and be very clear in our approaches. Our university community wants us to do that. 

Q: What does effective, empathetic communication look like in a university setting, and how can it help build stronger, more inclusive communities?

A: Empathetic communication is a shared responsibility across the institution. It can't rest with one individual; it needs collaboration and active participation from all staff and students. 

For me, empathetic communication begins with listening and actively seeking and responding to feedback. I spent a lot of time listening to people before taking any action. You might not be in a position to respond to that feedback straight away, but you should never forget what someone said in your first year as a senior leader, because by year three or four, it's going to become meaningful. That's when you can draw on that learning and make it effective.

At Durham, we've created a range of comprehensive support schemes, including tailored financial support such as scholarships for students from North East England and Black Heritage Scholarships. These were shaped by actively listening to staff and students about what would help us to create a more inclusive, welcoming and progressive environment. We may not be able to implement changes straight away, but we can reflect on what we hear and consider how to introduce improvements that work with the grain of the community. That only succeeds if we have a cohesive university.

Advocating for staff and students in this space is a really important role for universities so those individuals don't feel they are left to deal with such issues on their own.

At Durham, we encourage students and staff to contribute to our locality through volunteering – everything from frontline roles to board trustees, recognising we are an integral part of our city and region. Staff can take up to five days volunteering leave. 

Q: What role can collaboration between further education and higher education play in widening participation and building more cohesive and inclusive communities?

A: I think this speaks to the heart of some of the work that's been outlined in the government’s Post-16 Education and Skills white paper. That relationship between further education and higher education is absolutely critical to the education system within any locality.

Education, learning and training are lifelong processes, and universities and colleges can work together to deliver the important activity in these spaces, particularly around some of the wider civic responsibilities.

In the northeast of England, we have a collaboration called the Universities for Northeast England (UNEE), which provides a unified voice for higher education in the region.

We've also created the Durham Learning Alliance, a landmark partnership between Durham University and four further education colleges. There's so much potential for universities and colleges to make lasting impacts and improve outcomes for young people and adult learners in neighbourhoods and communities, and indeed families in those localities.

Over the years, we've worked together to expand employment and apprenticeship opportunities, piloting T level placements and improving progression routes for post-16 education. This work isn’t necessarily about increasing the number of students coming to Durham University – it's about helping young people and adult learners to see higher education as a possibility for their future.

We’ve also partnered with the Foundation of Light charity, based in Sunderland, to work together on initiatives aimed at improving communities across North East England and addressing educational attainment as well as health and social care challenges.

Q: Looking ahead, what more do you think needs to change across the sector to support inclusion, cohesion and free speech, while preventing and responding to any harassment? What more can universities be doing?

A: We're already doing a lot and some of the work isn’t natural territory for us. The reality is, we can no longer pretend we operate in isolation. We live in a very interconnected world. Over the past couple of years, it’s become clear that national and international events affect us directly, and those impacts play out on our campuses.

Our focus should be about approaches to community cohesion. Our EDI strategies should really be considered as community cohesion strategies, rooted in strong individual lived values that bring communities together and align with the university’s purpose.

We need to learn to work across both internal and external boundaries to deliver our approaches to community cohesion. It’s important we bring leaders through our universities who know how to work across those boundaries, particularly external ones, collaborating with local authorities and with other education providers such as further education colleges.

We must also consider the broader impact of our work: what are we doing to inspire young people and adult learners to aspire to higher education or to develop skills that contribute to productivity and economic growth? These are the capabilities that society and the economy need and we have a civic responsibility as anchor organisations to play our part. 

I often ask myself and my colleagues: are we doing enough in this space to be seen by the public and politicians as meaningful contributors to the challenges affecting the country today? What does the work universities do mean to people in the least advantaged areas of our localities?