Meet the Widening Participation Team
We believe that it's important for young people to be well informed
about the opportunities they have and the choices they will need to make
at 16 - after all, these decisions have an impact on the rest of their
lives.
That's why we work with the University's museums, colleges and departments, as well as other partners, to support young people in and around Oxfordshire on
their learning journeys and to make further or higher education a more
achievable goal.
Tara Prayag
Head of Widening Participation
Tara Prayag has been working for the University of Oxford for just over three years. Before that she worked at BBC Manchester organising staff training and development, and supporting the local outreach programmes. Here at Oxford, she is the head of the Widening Participation team so she gets to see what everyone else is doing.
Tara loved English at school (because her English teacher would let her write lots of stories) but her favourite point in school was getting to choose her A-levels as she was able to select subjects she had never worked on before: Communication Studies, and Sociology. It was the 80s and those sorts of subjects were quite a big deal then!
Kim Stone
Widening Participation Coordinator
Kim is the newest
member of the Widening Participation team, and has most recently moved from
Australia – though she has spent her life travelling around the world. Kim is
in charge of coordinating and delivering the flagship Oxford Young Ambassadors
programme while Robyn is on maternity leave.
Before coming to
Oxford she has held many odd jobs, including fumbling through people’s orders
at coffee shops and translating for medical teams in the slums of Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, but has most recently run a widening participation programme
at the University of Melbourne.
Kim’s high school
was located in a Brazilian rain forest and her classes were frequently
interrupted by monkeys swinging through trees outside the classroom. Her
favourite teacher Dr. Bouressa taught her the life changing power of higher
education and pushed her to apply for universities that she never would have
considered otherwise.
Jimi Slattery
Widening Participation Coordinator
Jimi has been part of the Widening Participation team since September 2010 and his main project is our popular Primary programme, Dave Smith and the University Mystery.
Before joining the team he worked for a small charity based on the Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides after studying Archaeology at the University of York.
In his spare time Jimi enjoys cooking for friends and family and is a huge Manchester City supporter.
His favourite teacher at school was Mr. Hodgson who taught him that not all teachers were right, and that there is a fascinating world to explore outside of West Berkshire.
Melissa Mead
Widening Participation Coordinator
Melissa is originally from New Zealand and joined the team in September 2011. She provides administrative support for the team, and is responsible for the E-Mentoring programme used by the Widening Participation.
Before joining the Widening Participation team, Melissa spent some time managing a music store in Belfast, and working for a scientific network in Berlin.
When Melissa is not working she enjoys travelling, watching terrible films, attending gigs and learning languages.
Her favourite teachers in school were Mr. Priest, who taught her a lot about nature and had excellent school camps, and Mrs Williams, who is responsible for Melissa's love of the Japanese language, culture and people.
Please do get in touch with us; we are always happy to chat through new ideas and discuss how we may help you:
