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Higher education
At the Dyson Institute there is a thriving community of clubs and societies, and it’s easy to start a new society, whether that be a student run internal newspaper or a mental health initiative.
Read on for an excerpt from the Dyson Institute’s student run internal newspaper, covering a new student initiative named ‘Dudes in DIET’ (Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology).
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Isaac Yang & Matt Merrill
There have been times both within and outside of DIET when I have felt unseen and didn’t have peers to talk to about my struggles, I wanted to start Dudes in DIET so that others around me would always have a group of supporting people to talk to!
Dudes in DIET has been received brilliantly by the Institue, with recognition from staff and student alike. We see new people coming to each walk across the full range of year groups and this has led to positive conversations.
Article written by Usama, first year Postgraduate Engineer:
I first met the Dudes in DIET on a wet and wintry, typical English Friday morning. The dudes, Matt and Isaac, both Undergraduate Engineers at the Dyson Institute, had joined us halfway through a student council meeting to talk us through their proposal. As the minutes went by, and the dudes presented their ideas there was only one thing I could think of – how has nobody thought of this before?
Turns out that somebody had thought of this before. The dudes had been inspired by Rob Osman’s Dudes and Dogs - a mental wellbeing initiative to encourage men to get out in the open air and talk, with a dog or two in tow, who had run sessions prior at the Institute. The dudes’ proposal was simple – they would lead a group of guys, where anyone was welcome to join, on a walk through beautiful Malmesbury – and provide an open, friendly, and safe space for guys to just...talk. That seems kind of anti-climactic, doesn’t it? Talking. Seems too simple. What’s so special about talking? The dudes claimed that people don’t do enough of it, especially people that identify as men.
I’ve joined the dudes in DIET for a walk twice now – and each time has been more wonderful than the last. We talk about whatever is on our minds - exam stress, workplace things, weekend plans. We talk about what attracted each of us to these walks, and the answer has been the same so far – each of us has lived through challenges, buried deep in our problems, and assumed that our problems were unique, never experienced by anyone.
That is until we talked about them and discovered that our problems are more similar than different to each other.
In 1938, Harvard researchers began what would become the longest study on what makes us happy. The study has been running for 87 years, and it’s conclusions are definitive: Positive relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer.
So you see, things start to go wrong when people feel like they can’t talk. Matt, and Isaac know this. And so does everyone that has led or joined one of the walks. On the surface, Dudes in DIET is just a group of guys out for a walk. But deeper within, it’s a group of guys who know what it feels like to not be able to talk, and they’re out to change this, for everyone, one walk at a time.
