The President and Vice-Chancellor has appointed Professor Mark Spearing, Vice-President Research and Enterprise, as the University’s new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) Champion and chair of the University ED&I Committee.
The University’s governance of ED&I is led by the University ED&I Committee, whose membership and terms of reference have recently been updated with a focus on providing clearer governance routes through which ED&I matters can be raised and decisions made, whether they originate from institutional-level charters, Faculty, School and Directorate level committees and working groups, or through staff networks.
The refreshed ED&I Committee’s ambition is to create an environment where everyone can thrive and everyone belongs by:
- Ensuring that the equality, diversity and inclusion promises that we make to staff and students are reflected in their day-to-day experiences as part of the University.
- Ensuring everyone feels safe bringing their ‘whole self’ to the University, without having to hide any part of their identity, thoughts or background for fear of negative consequences.
Mark commented: “I am honoured and humbled to be appointed in this role. I am passionate about the ED&I agenda. I believe that it is fundamental to the mission of Universities that we are communities where everyone is able to thrive, and that ideas can be expressed and received from different perspectives without fear or prejudice. This is how we achieve excellence in our education and research. This requires that we maintain the highest standards of equality and fairness, including all members of our community in our mission and that we value diversity; as this often leads to the best ideas and most powerful educational experiences.”
Mark chaired the first meeting of the refreshed University ED&I Committee on Monday 17th February and further meetings are in place throughout 2020.
To make best use of resources, an Equality Charters Programme Board has also been established with the aim of ensuring a co-ordinated and resource-efficient approach to supporting institutional charter submissions. The Programme Board, also chaired by the ED&I Champion, will meet for the first time on 11 March 2020.
A new annual ED&I Forum has also been added, to allow for wider consultation and better dissemination of information and will include Chairs of institutional and departmental equality charters’ Self-Assessment Teams, Chairs of the ED&I Staff Networks and other key ED&I leads or representatives from across the University’s staff and student bodies.
Mark also noted that “The overall intention is to work towards a more integrated approach to ED&I, so that it is fully embedded in all of our activities. This is consistent with a recent report sponsored by the League of European Research Universities (LERU).”
