Measuring Cultural Diversity: Diversity Atlas with Peter Mousaferiadis

Workshop Description

The webinar will address issues and philosophies around the importance of cultural diversity and the need for effective means to measure its various aspects, and to interpret the results of those measurements. It will include in depth explanation of the design and implementation of Diversity Atlas including hands-on demonstration whereby attendees have the chance to test drive the platform taking the survey themselves.

Rationale

It is estimated that the global financial cost of conflict is currently around $14 trillion dollars, almost 13% of the world’s GDP. According to UNESCO, “Three-quarters of the world’s major conflicts have a cultural dimension. Bridging the gap between cultures is urgent and necessary for peace, stability and development.” If culture is the source of most of the conflict in the world then it also becomes the solution.

While discussions about the importance of cultural diversity are abundant, there has been a significant knowledge gap in how to measure it. Diversity Atlas is a product of over 6 years research and development and an extensive review of literature conducted by Cultural Infusion. It sets out to define cultural identity, to build a global standard of diversity measurement and to visualise the cultural diversity of organisations and communities. Our research led to the development of a set of quantified dimensions of diversity that can be benchmarked, compared over time, evaluated against adjustable variables and used to provide recommendations.

The Diversity Atlas platform

The survey we developed as a result of the above-mentioned research takes about 3-5 minutes to complete and contains 28 questions in and around respondents’ diversity profiles, designed under what we define as the four pillars of cultural diversity (languages spoken, country of birth, religion/worldview and cultural heritage/ethnicity) as well touching on gender, sexuality, ancestry, citizenship, disability, employment and education.

There are over 45,000 fields of data in the survey, including more than 8000 languages in the database; the largest in the world. The results are displayed on a visually informative dashboard, which contains analysis of the results, comparison panels, statistical insights, and a ‘Diversity Index’, which was developed to provide a normalised numeric indicator of diversity across cohorts and sub-cohorts.

Webinar Format

1. What’s In a Name? A fun, introductory session that highlights our ancestral and cultural histories as revealed by our names.

2. Diversity Atlas: Following an explanation of the philosophical, theoretical and conceptual framework underpinning the Diversity Atlas transformational and data analytics tool we will take a guided tour of the platform.

3. So What? Now that we have painted a picture of an organisation, how can this knowledge be best leveraged to inform meaningful equality and conflict management strategies, policies and programs into the near and distant future? How can ‘data’ be best utilised to bring about harmony?

4. Who is here? – If time permits, a whistle stop tour to reveal who is in attendance.

Attendees will be asked to complete the survey themselves and then participate in discussion to address the results; Expectations vs Reality, and take a deep dive to examine what level of the group’s diversity has been ‘revealed’ by our data capture.

This webinar will be offered in English.

Learning Objectives:

• A broader understanding of issues and philosophies around cultural diversity and its role in creating a better world
• Insights into the need for a data driven approach to assessing diversity
• The role that data around cultural, linguistic and religious diversity can play in building greater social cohesion and reducing ethnic, race and religious based discrimination
• The importance of approaching diversity through an intersectional lens
• Working knowledge of a leading edge diversity data collection and analysis tool
• Practical experience of engaging in a group diversity analysis exercise
• Shared ideas around how diversity analysis results can inform processes going forward

About Peter Mousaferiadis

Peter Mousaferiadis has spent over three decades working in the cultural & creative industries, as a conductor, creative director and producer and is considered an international thought leader in culture. He is founding CEO at Cultural Infusion which has delivered cultural programs reaching over 3 million students across Australia since 2002. In that time the organisation has moved into the tech delivery space, creating a range of award winning educational apps with an intercultural focus, and recently launched its ground breaking Diversity Atlas online survey platform on a commercial basis. Peter is an Associate of the UNESCO Chair for Interreligious & Intercultural Relations for the Asia–Pacific Region, a winner of the UNAOC Intercultural Innovation Award and was recently appointed a Global Salzburg Fellow member of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum at the Salzburg Global Seminar.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-mousaferiadis-76669737/