It’s been a little while, but Pulse, your LGBT+ Staff Network, is back in business! I’m Andrew and I’m one of the co-chairs of the network. Along with our other co-chair, Sam Berry; and our wonderful new committee, our mission is to breathe new life into the network and make it deliver for our members. So, without further ado, here is the latest news of what’s going on in the next few weeks:

Women in Academia awards ceremony
The Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WISET) network have extended invitations to Pulse members to attend their “Women in Academia” awards ceremony, which starts next week. If you are interested, please contact us at uoslgbt@soton.ac.uk and we will send you the invitation.

Highfield Picnic Lunch
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, on Friday 28 June we’re holding a lunchtime picnic social in the Valley Gardens on Highfield Campus (assuming the weather is kind to us, otherwise we’ll convene in B38, the Staff Social Centre.) The picnic will run from 12:00 – 14:00 and is a great opportunity for us all to get together as a community and get to know each other better! Don’t worry if you can only make it for part of the time, just bring your lunch along and we’ll be delighted to see you! This event is open to all staff, students and visitors to the University. You can also join the Facebook event.

LGBTSTEM day
OpSoc, the University of Southampton Optics and Photonics Society, are running a range of events for LGBTSTEM day which we’ve been invited to. These include a diversity discussion panel at The Art House Café on Thursday 4th July at 6.30 pm and other events to be announced shortly.

Solent Gay Men’s Chorus
The Solent Gay Men’s Chorus are performing on Saturday 6th July at the Hub Theatre. The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £12.50 from www.sgmc.org.uk

If you’d like to be more involved with Pulse, or have some suggestions or ideas for activities that you’d like us to be more involved with, please feel free to get in touch with us at uoslgbt@soton.ac.uk and let us know. You can also follow us on social media. We’re on Facebook and Twitter.