Respectful and inclusive communities

We’ve worked closely with our community to shape the student calendar, making sure it includes dates of celebration and significance for everyone.

There's also a new Neurodivergent Club, bringing together students, staff and the wider community. The club is a supportive space where members can connect, share experiences and advocate for each other in many ways.

TalkCampus, our peer-led mental health program, is now available to all Federation students in multiple languages. It’s here to help you connect with others and break down the stigma around mental health and seeking support.

We’ve also drafted a Wellbeing Mental Health Strategy, shaped by service data and feedback. Through this plan, we’re developing inclusive and accessible communications, peer-led activities and supports to make sure everyone feels welcome and supported.

The Student Equity and Inclusion Network (SEIN) is part of our Students as Partners initiative, offering up to 12 paid positions for current students. SEIN brings students with lived experience together to help shape equity initiatives, making sure our planning and development reflects student needs.

As part of Respect Week 2025, we teamed up with Women’s Health Grampians to host an Active Bystander Conversation Panel. Several students joined the panel, sharing their insights and experiences.

We’ve launched a research project to better understand the barriers students with disability face when accessing Higher Degree by Research or postgraduate study. This project will help us find ways to improve access, participation, and support for our research students.

We’ve set up a staff Gender Equity Network, bringing together people from across the University to drive gender equality initiatives. The Network supports our Gender Equality Action Plan and the new Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response Plan. So far, members have completed initial training on gender impact assessments, and we’ve published guidance materials to help put these assessments into practice. By applying an intersectional lens to new policies, programs and services, we’re working towards better and fairer outcomes for everyone at Federation.

We’ve also added diversity, equity and inclusion questions to the Your Voice Matters staff survey. This helps us understand how staff feel about our efforts to support a diverse and welcoming workplace.

To help staff and students plan and deliver accessible and inclusive events, we’ve developed a practical guide for accessible events (PDF 205 KB).

We’ve set up twice-yearly consultation meetings to help us schedule and prioritise planned works for accessibility and equity spaces. These meetings guide our infrastructure planning and design, making sure we’re always looking through an equity lens.

We’ve also carried out lighting and CCTV audits in key after-hours areas across all campuses, with improvements already made. Regular audits are now part of our ongoing planning and monitoring, so we can keep making our spaces safer and more accessible.

We’re also conducting regular perimeter building security audits on every campus. These checks are now a routine part of our planning, helping us make continuous improvements to campus safety.

We’ve launched the ‘Respect at Fed: Living on Res’ training module, developed with the Student Equity and Inclusion Network and featuring student-created videos. This module helps us build a respectful and supportive community for everyone living on campus.

All students are now enrolled in 'Respect at Fed: Our Communities' our first non-academic mandatory training for students. We’ve rolled out wide-reaching communications to help students complete the training before the start of semester.

To support a more inclusive university, we’ve introduced a suite of neurodiversity resources and training for staff. These resources are designed to raise awareness and help us create a welcoming environment for all.

A group of senior staff have also taken part in a full day of training to deepen their understanding of trauma-informed practices, especially around disclosures of discrimination and gender-based violence.

We’ve set up an annual communications schedule to help students understand their option to use a chosen name on university systems and student ID cards. This respects gender identity, culture and personal safety.

We’ve welcomed the Australian Government’s introduction of new gender codes for university students. Now, all Federation students have more choice in how they describe their gender on student records. We’ve rolled out a dedicated communications campaign to make sure students know about these important changes.

We’ve embedded trauma-informed practices into our student procedures for responding to discrimination and gender-based violence. We’re committed to ongoing improvement, with further reviews and enhancements planned for 2026.

Our child safe procedures and training have been updated to reflect best practice, following a thorough review.

The University Council has also endorsed our Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response Plan for 2026–2030. This whole-of-organisation plan sets out a clear framework to help us achieve lasting cultural change.

The Muslim Prayer Room at Mt Helen campus was relocated to a central, accessible location with upgraded Wudu facilities. Students and staff collaborated to throughout the life of the project. An official welcome launch took place in October 2025. This prayer room complements existing facilities at Berwick and Gippsland.

A new student space for LGBTIQA+ students and allies was established at Mt Helen campus as a place of connection and belonging. The welcome launch in July 2024 was well attended by students and staff.