Our First-Ever (Virtual) Congress
As Ireland, our organizations, and communities become more culturally diverse, our intercultural experiences and identities are becoming more complex. People across the country and business sectors are having more intercultural experiences, requiring a very specific mind set, skills set and heart set. Whether you were born in Ireland or arrived as refugees, migrants, or business expatriates, it is more important than ever before to have a better understanding of culture and its role in our lives and work. Intercultural competence is imperative to having positive and effective intercultural experiences and a better understanding of our evolving identities.
SIETAR Ireland is inviting leaders and learners from all sectors and the community to come together to discover, learn, and share intercultural concepts so that we may be able to more effectively bridge our intercultural experiences and identities.
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“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw
In partnership with
Bridging Our Intercultural Experiences & Identities
March 12-20, 2021
​This is a collaboration with SIETAR Ireland, Young SIETAR, World Stage Theater and Business Games bringing together leaders and experts in the intercultural field from Ireland, Europe and around the world for impactful week that includes presentations, panel discussions, interactive games, theatrical performances, and community engagement.
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​​The Congress will open March 12th with a keynote presentation followed by a panel discussion. Additional congress sessions will take place online Tuesday, March 16th to Thursday, March 18th.
Young SIETAR will host a Community Dialogue and series of virtual Cultural Immersion events to more deeply explore Irish culture throughout the Congress from March 12th to March 20th.
The World Stage Theater actors will deliver powerful monologues in recognition of the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot, when white mobs terrorized the community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma in May of 1921. The Greenwood district was a thriving Black residential and commercial district, nicknamed, "Black Wall Street”. World Stage will share a few of their stories, compiled by Alicia Latimer based on eye witness narratives collected by Mary E. Jones Parish.
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Business Games creates customized learning experiences and will host their Aliens and Astronauts, an interactive and experiential learning activity designed to teach participants how to navigate multi-cultural environments in a respectful and understanding way.
Featured Guests
Keynote Speaker
Dr Ebun Joseph is a Race relations consultant, Director Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies and Chairperson, African Scholars Association Ireland (AFSAI). Dr Joseph holds the position of Career Development Consultant at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Teaching Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. Ebun is an author, TV panellist, Columnist, equality activist and convenor of various webinars on Anti-Racism. With a research focus on Labour markets and race relations, she has presented at several conferences, businesses and non-profits. Ebun is published and contributes regular responses on contemporary issues of racism in Ireland. Her recent book is titled, Racial stratification in Ireland: A Critical Race Theory of Labour Market Inequality. She also co-authored the book, Challenging Perceptions of Africa in Schools: Critical Approaches to Global Justice Education with Routledge in Jan 2020.
Panelists
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Brigid
Farrell
Brigid Farrell is the founder of AllTalk Training and works with companies that experience communication issues due to cultural diversity within their organisation. Brigid is always keen to share her expertise in intercultural communication and to show how simple changes can lead to higher levels of team productivity, better collaboration among colleagues, and a more inclusive workplace for all employees within the organisation.
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Brigid has also been working on a project that supports migrant women in their career journeys in Ireland as well as with companies who have recently relocated some of their team members to Ireland, giving herself and her team a great insight into the lives of people who have recently come to live in Ireland and wish to integrate and thrive in Irish society.
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The change in Irish society in terms of the diversity of language and culture to be found here is something Brigid has great enthusiasm for, but she also shares a passion with others to ensure we not only have a diverse society but also an inclusive one.
Furkan Karayel
Furkan Karayel is an award winning inclusive leadership advisor and CEO at Diversein.com. She helps tech managers to recognise and practise inclusion in the workplace. Her passion is leveraging women-in-tech leadership, diversity and empowering female founders globally.
Furkan founded Diversein.com after 10 years of software engineering experience in multinational tech companies in Ireland. She is Diversity and Inclusion Track Captain for Startup Week Dublin, Dublin Chapter Lead for Sprinters.co, a global diverse female entrepreneurs organisation and advisory board member for InspiringSTEM.org, promoting tech careers into new generations.
Honoured with "Diversity and Inclusion Role Model in Business" and "Trailblazer" Awards. Additionally,
Furkan is an active speaker at international events about her journey into tech world as a woman, her recommendations for inclusive leadership and the power of diversity and inclusion.
Vessy Tasheva
Founder of Vessy.com (Strategic D&I and Culture Services), Mental Health & Anti-Racism Advocate. Vessy Tasheva (she/they) is originally Bulgarian and based out of Dublin. Vessy works with clients across Europe and North America such as Soundcloud, Contentful, Huckletree, Zalando and others.
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Vessy authored two editions of her independent international Diversity in the Workplace Report (2019 edition featuring 10 companies from 10 countries: vessy.com/diversity and 2020 edition featuring 10 companies from 10 industries: vessy.com/2020).
Vessy was named by Hive Learning as one of 2019’s most influential D&I Leaders globally. In April 2020 Vessy launched a video course on Inclusive Leadership on SocialTalent, a learning platform, where the course ranked as #2 in the Most Watched course for the month of May.
In the last 11 years, prior to being a founder, Vessy has worked as Chief Strategy Officer of a talent tech startup, as well as in various roles across product, marketing, and culture in companies between 4 and 800 employees.
Cultural Immersion
Young SIETAR is excited to invite you to a fun filled week of engaging virtual activities to explore Ireland, and Irish cultures and communities.
We will kick-off this Cultural Immersion with our first ever Virtual Scavenger Hunt through the riverside city of Limerick where you will work in small groups with other participants to explore 'local' sights in Limerick.
This is a unique opportunity to get to know other participants while discovering, exploring, and experiencing, first hand, Ireland’s rich cultural history. Learn all about Limerick, one of Ireland’s oldest cities.
Explore Irish music, language, and sports and there will be some small surprises!
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Following the Virtual Scavenger Hunt, join us for an impactful Community Dialogue where you will learn more about Irish culture and identities in Limerick, spotlighting it’s rich diversity, by meeting some of Limericks community change makers.
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While we cannot go far from home right now, we will take you on a tour of Ireland and Irish culture virtually.
We cannot wait to meet you and explore Ireland with you!
