Current members

Anique Varleigh	Co-Chair, Head of Examinations & Assessment Business School
Lesley Cohen	Co-Chair, Associate Provost (EDI)
Wayne Mitchell	Co-Chair, Associate Provost (EDI)
Alex Dawes	Race Equality Charter Coordinator EDIC
Kellianne Bartley	Alumni Engagement Officer
Rob Bell	Athena Swan Coordinator, EDIC
Hugh Brady	Professor of Immunology, Life Sciences
Judith Cherni	Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Policy (FONS)
Andrea Cojocea	Deputy President (Welfare), Imperial College Union
Sarah Essilfie-Quaye	EDI Fellow, Faculty of Medicine
Peter Haynes	Vice-Provost (Education)
Kani Kamara	Head of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Centre
Po-Heng (Henry) Lee	Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Susan Littleson	Deputy Director, Organisational Development and Inclusion
Onesmus Mwabonje	Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Policy
Elizabeth Nixon	Head of Internal Communications
Ines Perpetuo	Consultant, Postdoc Development Centre
Nathalie Podder	BME Officer,  Imperial College Union
Yuscah Pondera	Research Assistant, Department of Brain Sciences
Nancy Richards	Head of Curriculum Data Management
Mehdi Saedi	Marie-Curie Individual Fellow
Desmond Samuel	Head, Digital Communications Service
Simone Walker	Research Technician, National Heart and Lung Institute
Angela Williams	Learning and Development Officer, Estates Division

Rob Bell

I started at the College as an intern working on Athena SWAN in 2010. Since then I have worked on numerous department-level applications and am now on my third College Athena application. I have seen Athena SWAN embed and develop across College, and recently have noticed more and more conversations about other aspects of EDI. I was pleased to be asked to join the REC SAT and hope the College uses REC as a positive opportunity to address structural and systematic inequalities. As a core element of the College EDI Strategy, I think REC is important to furthering work at Imperial and proactively tackling our issues.

Hugh Brady

Hugh is Professor of Immunology in the Department of Life Sciences and has been at Imperial College for 11 years. He also acts as Admissions Tutor for Life Sciences and in that role has sought to broaden and diversify the intake of undergraduate students. He is particularly interested in identifying and dismantling structural barriers to allow more Black British students to enter and prosper in Imperial’s world class educational environment.

Judith Cherni

Judith is Advanced Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Policy where she has undertaken research and has worked as part-time lecturer, post-graduate supervisor, and supported the department for 23 years. Her research on renewable energy technology and sustainability has progressed from studies of international development and environment; these have expanded from a strong focus on Latin America to include all disadvantaged regions. The core of this research is to promote low carbon technologies, as well as equity and justice for the developing world. She realizes to foster similar principles in Imperial and other UK universities is also necessary. Imperial has huge potential to become a real equal opportunities institution and cherish racial, national and cultural diversity in campus. The REC-SAT represents a first, but important, step in this direction. Becoming a member of and contributing to the REC-SAT has been an exceptionally stimulating opportunity to both learn about minority ethnic issues and revealing some of SAT’s members own experience of institutional barriers.

Alex Dawes

I’m the first point of contact for any questions or comments about the College’s REC work and I monitor the College’s progress towards the actions committed to in the 2021 Bronze REC submission. I have worked in a variety of roles across Imperial, and in other HEIs, from departmental management, planning, event coordination and programme administration. I believe it is essential to work towards removing institutional and cultural barriers that result in discrimination and inequalities, and the REC is a vital part of the College’s goal to achieve that.

Sarah Essilfie-Quaye

Sarah is currently a Project Manager in Research Strategy and the Project Director for the Faculty of Medicine Culture Initiatives Management Group. Sarah is also a Co-Chair for Imperial As One, the College's BAME Staff Network. She has been part of the Imperial community since 2002, starting as a Research Technician in the Asthma Lab, before progressing into a research career whilst also undertaking a part-time PhD.

After her PhD Sarah made the decision to step away from an academic career. “After a quick investigation I discovered there were no Black female academics at Imperial, I knew the path to Professor was a difficult one for anyone, but this made it feel almost impossible for me. I now regret that decision and wish instead I had felt I had enough support and encouragement to strive to be the first. This is the driving factor behind my involvement with REC SAT and Imperial As One. To create an environment at Imperial where everyone feels like they have the chance to make it to the top of their career, whatever their background.”

Peter Haynes

Peter is currently Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience). He joined Imperial in 2007 as a joint appointment between the departments of Materials and Physics and was Head of the Department of Materials from 2015 until 2022. He participated in the College’s reverse mentoring scheme in 2022 which was an invaluable and eye-opening experience. He is particularly keen to use networks to support early career researchers and academics and is chair of the European Psi-k Network for first-principles computational simulations of materials and leads the EPSRC Network in Materials for Quantum Technologies.

Karen Hinxman

Hello I’m Karen and I have been a Consultant for the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre (PFDC) since 2017.  What I love most about my role is enabling early career researchers to reach their full potential in whichever career they choose.  I do this through co-ordinating the Postdoc Reps Network, a thriving community of over 70 reps who represent postdocs from every department across all campuses. Delivering a range of tailored training sessions. Co-delivering the Springboard Women’s Development Programme, which is open to all women at the College. This programme allows women to identify the clear, practical and realistic steps they want to take, and allows them to develop the skills and self-confidence to take those steps. Being Secretary to the Researcher Development Committee which was convened in 2020 to support and promote Imperial's commitment to creating a positive research culture that values researchers and supports their professional and personal development at all career stages and that ensures a healthy working environment. I am honoured to be on the REC SAT so that I can better understand and support the researchers that I work with, as well as ensuring that their needs are addressed in future PFDC initiatives.

Kani Kamara

Hi I’m Kani. I’ve worked for the College in several roles. I started as an HR Advisor, became an HR Manager for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and then move into the EDI team as an EDI Manager. I am currently Head of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre. I’m really pleased to be part of the team and help to identify and self-reflect on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students.

Susan Littleson

I am an experienced strategic HR and OD professional, with 30 years’ experience helping people and organisations improve and develop. EDI has been at the centre of everything, and I have made organisations fairer places for staff and customers, whether or not they have wanted it! My first degree was in Sociology, at Goldsmiths, where my year long electives were Race and Ethnicity, and Sex and Gender respectively. My dissertation was on the social construction of LGB identity.

I am on the REC to make Imperial a fairer place. I want evidence to be seen and understood by decision makers. I want people to be open to adapting policies and procedures to change outcomes. I want people to look at how they think and behave to others. I want Imperial to be a place where everyone really does have the best chance to achieve their potential, without unnecessary barriers. My partner and in laws are BAME, so I have close experience of barriers and discrimination.

Wayne Mitchell

I’m Wayne, a Senior Teaching Fellow in Immunity and Inflammation. I’m also currently completing a MEd exploring the question, “What impact does being a ‘minority’ have on Black British student’s sense of identity, belonging and ability to achieve at Imperial College?” I have always had an interest in understanding the factors that promote effective learning, and how these influence a student’s ability to adapt to and transit through different learning environments. So, I’ve joined the REC-SAT to help to understand the impact that being a member of a minoritized groups at Imperial College has on their sense of belonging and identity as a BME students. What are the lived experiences of the students and what is being done and what more needs to be done to maximise all our students potential?

Onesmus Mwabonje

I am originally from Kenya and am currently working as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP). I joined CEP in March 2015 as a Research Assistant to work on a Climate KIC sponsored project code named “BioSuccInnovate”. This was after working for nearly 7 years in industry as a Business Consultant. Being part of the REC SAT does lend an opportunity to me to work as a part of a team to provide a voice that will create a sustainable impact on issues affecting BAME group at Imperial College London that require immediate attention and addressing.

Nathalie Podder

I am the Deputy President (Welfare) at Imperial College Union. A huge part of my role involves overseeing the student Liberation Networks and working with the liberation officers to raise issues pertaining to marginalised groups and communities within the Union and the College. One of my key objectives as an elected officer will be to write an EDI Strategy for the Union and to conduct a comprehensive review of the culture within our clubs, societies and projects, a key element of student life at Imperial. I look forward to working with the other members of this group to create a more inclusive community for all students and staff at Imperial of all backgrounds.

Nancy Richards

I have worked at Imperial since September 2021. My previous work has been with post – 92 institutions with a very different student profile to Imperial College. At my previous institution, I  was a committee member (secretary) of the BAME staff network.  My key focus was supporting junior staff in their development.

I have previously worked in Student Services, so have some knowledge of turning policy into action which I hope will aid my role on this committee.

As a ‘first in family’ graduate, I want to contribute to an environment that truly enhances the life chances of students and staff of colour.

Desmond Samuel

Is it Des or Desmond? Often one of the first questions I get asked meeting someone for the first time. I’ve worked at Imperial for 14 years. My role is within the Faculty of Medicine, as Head of Digital Communications Services. I enjoy working with people, learning new skills and volunteering.

As a Co-Chair of Imperial As One, I help deliver a safe space for minoritised communities at Imperial. As a Values Champion, I play an active role in supporting College Values and Behaviours. I am proud of the self-assessment team for achieving the Race Equality Charter award. I am also an Advance HE, REC panel member. I work with other institutions taking their first steps toward achieving race equity.

I am excited to be a part of the implementation process at Imperial. My goal, ask questions, share knowledge and help deliver positive opportunities for change. Is it Des or Desmond? I use both.

Anique Varleigh

I have worked at Imperial College Business School for 6 years and have been fortunate enough to work on many College wide initiatives and projects. I feel honoured to have been asked to join the REC Self-Assessment Team. The REC members are all committed to making a difference and the most noticeable aspect of this is that people from the BAME have a voice and are being listened to. Personally, it has been humbling and a welcome to change, to sit in a room with people from a diverse ethnic background who all passionate about effecting change.

This feels like a golden opportunity to really make a difference to the BAME community not just for our existing students, faculty and members of staff at Imperial but beyond that to our future students and beyond the confines of Imperial.  Imperial are ready to lay themselves bear with where we are now and show how we are going to make a tangible difference (in the not too distant future) that will have a lasting legacy and set the foundations for future generations to come.

Simone Walker

Simone is a Senior Research Technician in the National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, where she manages a specialist technical service. Her role involves her interacting with staff and students at all levels along with external research partners and the general public, through outreach work. It is important to her that all of these stakeholders see and believe that Imperial is a positive space for diverse communities. Having joined the college in 2009, she has witnessed and engaged with many activities to enhance the culture so that it is a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. While seeing that strides have been taken in the right direction, she recognises that there is still work to do. Being part to the REC SAT represents a continuation of these endeavours at a level that allows for questioning, implementation and analysis and Simone welcomes the opportunity to be a part of the team that will scrutinise and hold the college to account in relation to these matters.  

Angela Williams

I am an experienced Learning and Development professional with a background working in both the public and private sectors ranging from Local Government, Charities, Education and Hospitality, to name a few.  What has been common across these sectors and throughout my career is the lack of BAME staff at senior management level. I am passionate about learning and career development, and have supported individuals to reach their full potential and achieve their goals. 

I joined Imperial in 2016, as the Learning and Development Officer working in Estates Operations. I reviewed and implemented policies to remove any barriers to learning to ensure it was fair, open and transparent for all staff.  I welcomed the opportunity to be part of the REC Group and work with my colleagues to bring about much needed change at Imperial for staff, students and the community.

EDI PowerBI dashboards

EDIC and the HR data team are currently trialling EDI PowerBI dashboards that give data on sex, ethnicity, age and disability at College, Faculty and Departmental level. The dashboards will be made available to EDI leads in each academic Department so they will have more autonomy to look at staff data trends. Full training on the system will be provided and access will be given to Departments after the Easter College Closure.

Vindi Banga to Chair Imperial College London's Council

Imperial College has appointed Vindi (Manvinder) Banga as its new Chair of Council. With his education in engineering and business – Mr Banga has an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management and studied mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology – he is passionate about furthering the study and research of Science, Engineering, Medicine and Business. Mr Banga has been affiliated with several educational institutions around the world, and with his wife, founded The Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust, with the objective of furthering education and cancer research.

REC Mid-term review

May 2024 marks the half-way point on the action undertaken from the 2021 Bronze REC submission and award. To ensure that we are following out what we set out to do and that our actions are still appropriate and impactful, REC SAT will be undertaking a mid-term review of our work and priorities. This will involve consultation with AdvanceHE in September and potential updating of the REC action plan.

Excellence Fund

A new Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation has been set up to award prizes of up to £75k to projects that work towards REC Actions 3.3 and/or 3.2.

• Action 3.3: to work with students to ensure that curriculum and assessment are fully inclusive of ethnicity.
• Action 3.2: to create anti-racism training materials for students.

The deadline was 1 December and the panel will announce their decision on what project/s to fund in the New Year.

REC One-Page

In response to feedback that communications around REC could be improved so the College community is more aware of the commitment, actions and priorities involved in our work, we have produced a REC 2023 update one-pager (pdf). This will be fully updated every year to reflect the College’s actions around REC as they evolve.

Kenan Malik- Not So Black and White

On 29 November Kenan Malik, writer, lecturer and broadcaster joined us for a lunchtime talk to discuss his latest book Not So Black and White. In this book he challenges the conventional histories both of the idea of race and of the struggles to confront racism. In retelling the histories of racial ideas and of the changing character of antiracist and anticolonial movements, he provides also an account of how we created a world riven by identity politics. He challenges longstanding assumptions, revealing forgotten stories of a racialised working class, and questioning concepts such as “white privilege”.

Black History Month 2023

The theme of this year’s Black History Month was Saluting Our Sisters. We kicked off (early!) with the annual Beyond Ethnicity Career Conference on the 29 September that brought together 80 students and staff from Minority Ethnic backgrounds to discover new ways to develop their careers and identify connections and networks to support them.

Around College a raft of events took place to celebrate the contribution and culture of Britain’s Black community including a talk from Ambassador Yvette Stevens, the Celebrating Black Heritage event hosted by the Chemistry Department and the Discovering Modern African Art course. Along with celebrating contribution were events to highlight the biases and discrimination Black individuals and communities still face such as the Meet the Author Event with Winston Trew, organised by Imperial As One and the Coded Bias screening facilitated by the Library.

Good Practice Towards Contextualising the Curriculum Workshop

On 16 October the Education Team facilitated a workshop, inviting speakers from each faculty to talk about the projects and initiatives they have worked on towards diversifying the curriculum and incorporating EDI into the teaching space. The group heard about:

• Geographical Bias in Curricula, Matt Harris, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Public Health, in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health 
• Fostering sense of belonging in the Faculty of Medicine: demonstrating and communicating diversity and inclusion, Christopher James Harvey, Senior Strategic Teaching Fellow: Psychology Phase One, School of Public Health 
• Diversifying the physics curricula to incorporate and acknowledge more perspectives from underrepresented groups, Isabel Rabey, Teaching Fellow, Department of Physics 
• ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering’ module, Chloe Agg, Senior Teaching Fellow (Student Experience), Department of Mechanical Engineering 
• ‘Working in Diverse Organizations’ module, Maria Farkas, Assistant Professor and Senior Teaching Fellow in Diversity & Inclusion, Business School 

Beyond Ethnicity Career Conference

The annual Beyond Ethnicity Career Conference took place on South Kensington campus on Friday 29 September and was attended by 80 students and staff. Delegates attended discussion sessions to identify barriers they faced to achieve in their roles, workshops on Understanding and re-authoring your life narrative for career and life success, Finding the right internship - the importance of transferable skills, What the Graduate School can do for you & Networking for Your Career and Promoting Your Best Self.

The keynote speaker was Eric Collins who was named one of the UK’s top 100 Minority Ethnic leaders in technology by the Financial Times in 2018 and voted one of the most influential Black people in Britain on Powerlist 2020. His founding of Impact X Capital Partners, a London based venture firm created to support underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe lead to his hosting of Channel 4’s The Money Maker, described by The Guardian as a one-man Dragon's Den….

EDI Seed Fund

Nine projects have been funded by Imperial’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Seed Fund. The fund provides up to £10,000 to strengthen support for underrepresented groups at Imperial. This year nine initiatives have been funded to help build a fully inclusive culture at the organisation. These include:

• Desmond Samuel, Faculty of Medicine, and Dr Wayne Mitchell, Department of Immunology and Inflammation, will run a project which aims to address the issue of name mispronunciation. They will explore how Imperial can implement a system where staff and students can add an audio clip or phonetic label of their name pronunciation to their email signature.
• Rebecca Smith, Department of Brain Sciences, and Kemi Aofolaju, Department of Bioengineering, will develop training materials to raise awareness of structural racism within higher education (HE). The training materials aim to foster a supportive and inclusive environment, and give concrete examples within the HE context, so people can understand how structural racism may present itself within the workplace and university life.

Activate Mentoring

Activate Student Mentoring Programme has celebrated its first year. Activate supports PhD students from minority ethnic groups, (but with a focus on students of Black heritage for the 2022-23 pilot year), with any fee status. It is part of the College's £5 million commitment to scholarships for minority and underrepresented students from the UK, the Presidential Scholarship supports one Master’s and one undergraduate student of Black Heritage (Home fee status) from each Faculty. 

Funding from the College’s Research England Culture Fund has enabled Activate to be extended to PhD students of Black, Asian and Minority Ethic groups in 2024 and will further support extension of the Programme to recipients of the President’s Scholarships for disabled students in 2025. 58 mentoring places will be available to students next academic session (8 scholarship recipients and up to 50 PhD places)

Sanofi NextGen Scholarship Programme

The Sanofi NextGen scholarship programme, part of Sanofi's larger ‘A Million Conversations’ global campaign, aims to create a new generation of healthcare leaders who can help improve trust in healthcare among underrepresented and marginalised communities, including women, ethnic minorities, people whose parents did not attend university, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities.

This scholarship is available to Imperial students who are from an underrepresented community, have demonstrated financial need, and have been assessed with a Home fee status. In 2023-2024, the first year of the programme, the scholarship will be available to current undergraduate students, and afterwards may be available to both new and current undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is available to students from all Faculties.

Library renaming

The Central Library on South Kensington campus will be renamed the Abdus Salam Library in honour of Professor Salam who was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and a Nobel Prize laureate. In 1957 he took up a Chair at Imperial and set up the Theoretical Physics Department.

Careers Service

The Careers Service have been liaising between external organisations and student reps on arrangements for EDI focused events including Accenture, British International Investment, and Janssen Pharmaceutical amongst others. Additionally, they collaborated with London Russell Group universities for the Spotlight on Inclusion: Black, Asian and Diverse Heritage Professionals event delivered in November 2022 and promoted the Black Graduate Careers Conference coordinated by Reach Society and held on South Kensington campus on 20 June 2023. They have also continued outreach work with AMOS Bursary and support for their scholar’s programme and the 2022 Student Shapers project explored WP reflections on the Careers Service with several recommendations implemented and continuing into summer 2023 with two new Student Shapers.

Provost’s Visiting Professor Programme

Four new visiting Professors have been announced to join the college. They are: Professor Eiman Kanjo, Provost’s Visiting Professor of Pervasive Sensing and TinyML; Professor Dangyuan Lei - Provost’s Visiting Professor of Physics; Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah - Provost’s Visiting Professor of Population Health; and Professor Sandhya Visweswariah – Provost’s Visiting Professor of Biochemistry.

Black Graduate Careers Conference

The Black Graduate Careers Conference, funded by Research England ran on 20 June 2023. It’s aim was to empower and inspire Black undergraduates and recent graduates to make informed decisions about their careers and to consider the wide range of benefits of studying a postgraduate degree.

The keynote was given by Ezechi Britton MBE,  CEO Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology and closing keynote by Kayisha Payne from Black British Professionals in STEM. Attendees could choose from workshops including: Entrepreneur’s Panel with Imperial Enterprise Lab; Is an MSc or PhD for me? With Dr Donald Palmer and Professor Sara Rankin; Know Your Strengths with Joy Maitland, Business Psychologist and Executive Coach; Careers in Scientific Publishing with Nature Springer; and Interview Skills with PWC

Annual Review Conversations (ARC)

HR have introduced the new Annual Review Conversations (ARC) to take the place of the Personal Review and Development Plan (PRDP). The Annual Review Conversations is a radically improved process which will provide a better and more useful experience for all staff at Imperial College. As with the previous PRDP process, all staff should expect to have this conversation at least once a year with their manager. This dialogue should be maintained via 1-2-1s with line managers throughout the year.

Updating EDI strategy

The College has been consulting on the creation of a new strategy for the College. This will be launched in October 2023 and take a long view (10-20 years) of how Imperial should be developing. Separately, it is time to review the College EDI Strategy, which was developed in 2017-18 and published to the College community in 2018. The REC SAT will be considering what it sees as the primary challenges for addressing race equality at the College and contribute these ideas to the next EDI strategy.

Proposals to rename Central Library

The Imperial History Group have reported that work is underway rename the Central Library after Professor Abdus Salam in recognition of his major contribution in quantum field theory and in the advancement of Mathematics at Imperial. Professor Salam was the first Pakistani and the first Muslim from an Islamic country to receive a Nobel Prize in science and he and Paul Matthews set up Imperial’s Theoretical Physics Department.

10,000 Black Interns Project

The Graduate School will be encouraging eligible students to sign up to the 10,000 Black Interns Project for internships across industry during summer recesses. The College will also be discussing the possibility of offering internships through the scheme starting in summer 2024.

Provosts Visiting Professors Programme

As part of the Provosts Visiting Professors Programme, Professor Priscilla Reddy, Strategic Lead within the Human and Social Capabilities division at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), visited the College between 6-17 March. She took part in the Women@Imperial Panel on International Women’s Day along with Professor Julie Makani and Alessandra Luati and presented a master class on Broadening Participation in Clinical Research (a South African perspective).

Culture Channel

The Artworks Group has launched The Culture Channel, an ongoing series of images shown on the many screens around the College. It showcases visual stories drawn from our collection of art, photography and cultural events.

Provosts Visiting Professors Programme

The next round of the Visiting Professors Programme is open with shortlisting completed and interviews taking place this month. The project aims is to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education.

HR Inclusive Recruitment webpages

The HR Recruitment Team have put together new Inclusive Recruitment webpages which provide advice, guidance and support on how to make every stage of the recruitment and selection process as inclusive as possible. This includes information on pre-recruitment, Job Description and advert, invitation to interview, panel diversity, anonymised recruitment, timing of recruitment rounds, training, adjustments that might be required, onboarding, data collection and how to use positive action.

Ethnicity Confident Recruitment Scheme

HR will be launching the new Ethnicity Confident Recruitment Scheme later this year. The scheme will invite volunteers from Minority Ethnic groups to have tailored recruitment training and be part of a pool from where individuals will be requested to sit on recruitment panels where there is a lack of diversity. If you are interested or would like further information please contact Natasha Boyd.

Kenan Malik- Not so Black and White

We are delighted to announce that Kenan Malik, writer, lecturer and broadcaster will join us to discuss his latest book Not So Black and White at 12.15-1.15pm on Tuesday 28 February at our South Kensington Campus. In this book he challenges the conventional histories both of the idea of race and of the struggles to confront racism. In retelling the histories of racial ideas and of the changing character of antiracist and anticolonial movements, he provides also an account of how we created a world riven by identity politics. He challenges longstanding assumptions, revealing forgotten stories of a racialised working class, and questioning concepts such as “white privilege”

Register your ticket to watch in person or remotely via live stream.

Anonymised recruitment

It is now possible for hiring managers to opt in to anonymised recruitment via Talentlink. This will hide the ethnicity, gender, and name. Hiring managers to contact the Recruitment Hub to request this.

London Higher Global Majority Mentoring Programme and mentoring feedback

Staff were invited to attend the online information on the Global Majority Mentoring Programme on the 22 November. This is a mentoring programme aimed at Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic early career researchers and junior professional services staff. It offers 1:1 mentoring and networking sessions and provides a platform to engage in open, confidential and respectful dialogue about diversity, cultural challenges and any barriers to progression.

More widely, staff from Minority Ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to give their views on mentoring opportunities and experience via a short anonymous survey. The results of the survey will be shared with the REC SAT at the January 2023 meeting and any recommendations or considerations will be followed up with POD

More diverse image search on the Asset Library

The central photography team have committed to capturing more diverse images of staff and students for use in the College’s Asset Library, and these are being regularly added to. Meanwhile, there is a search term (ImpDev) that can be used in the Asset Library’s search box which will display photos that show more diverse staff and students. This may help to make it easier to find more inclusive photos to use on webpages and materials to support your EDI work.

Writing about ethnicity guidance

The central Communications have produced Writing about Ethnicity Guidance.  This is intended as a resource for all Imperial staff and students who are writing official communications on behalf of the College. The guidance will be regularly updated to reflect changes to language over time and is designed to be a helpful resource when writing about terms that require sensitivity.

Introduction to race equity online course

EDIC have been working in partnership with AdvanceHE to launch the Introduction to race equity online course: this course introduces participants to key concepts including race, racism, and inequity in higher education, describing overt and covert racism and exploring concepts such as privilege, inclusion and belonging. 

The course is presented over two 45minute modules and is open to all staff and students.

“Know your pool” recruitment workshop on 8 November 2022

EDIC and HR presented a two hour workshop on understanding how to implement positive action to increase diversity and inclusion during staff recruitment. EDI representatives from across College joined Rob Farace, Deputy HR Director (HR Operations) and Kani Kamara, Head of EDIC to hear how recruitment can incorporate positive action. The group then heard from Sneha Saunders, Administration Manager and Staffing Coordinator, Chemical Engineering; Anthony Bull, Professor of Musculoskeletal Mechanics, Department of Bioengineering; and Marisa Miraldo, Professor of Health economics and Policy, Business School, about how they had successfully used “know your pool” actions to improve diversity at recruitment stage.

Beyond Ethnicity: Diversifying STEMM and Business Conference

Imperial as One and EDIC organised the annual Beyond Ethnicity: Diversifying STEMM and Business Conference on 4 November at South Kensington Campus, attended by 60 students and staff at Imperial, and external delegates. Michelle Palmer, founder and CEO of TheDifferenceEngine delivered the keynote speech, attendees participated in workshops on Managing Your Cashflow, Growth Mindset in STEM, Enterprise and Social Media. The day concluded with a panel looking at a range of career experiences including banking, science education, medicine and software engineering.

 

Visiting Professor Appointments

The first two of four Provost’s Visiting Professor appointments have taken up their posts within the Faculty of Natural sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. They are Prof Alessandra Luati in the Dept of Mathematics and Professor Pallab Maulik in the Department of Brain Sciences.

Black History Month

The College has a full programme of events and initiatives to celebrate Black History Month. These include:

• Mechanical Engineering have talk by  David Waboso, CBE, former managing director of digital railway Network Rail.
• New anti-racist training module from AdvanceHE will be uploaded to blackboard by 10 Oct. This will be a 2-hour module similar to Union Black (which is 9 hours) and is tailored with College content.
• A new exhibition of The Black People of Imperial will be displayed in the Sherfield Building outside the Reed and Pippard lecture theatres.
• The Beyond Ethnicity Conference for Early Career Researchers will take place on South Kensington Campus on 4 November
• EDIC is running a celebration event with delegates from 2021 and 2022 IMPACT programme to celebrate and network in-person on 25 October, 12.30 - 14.00

Staff members have graduated from Imperial’s flagship development programme for minority ethnic communities

16 Staff members have graduated from Imperial’s flagship development programme for minority ethnic communities. 

Called Imperial Positive About Cultural Talent (IMPACT), the course supports staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to develop their career by building new and existing skills and talents. 

Equality and diversity in teaching championed by Excellence Fund

Three ground-breaking projects are set to receive funding from this year’s Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation.

These include developing online courses in A Level Physics and Chemistry, embedding equality, diversity and inclusivity in the medical curriculum and building a sense of belonging and a more inclusive culture in the School of Medicine.

Royal Society awards Imperial physicist for his dedication to equity in science

Dr Mark Richards is recognised in the Royal Society’s annual awards for his commitment to increasing equity in physics.

Media Academy for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and postgraduate students

A Second Media Academy for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and postgraduate students will take place in Autumn 2022. The RCA exhibition of artists that identify as BAME was shown in January and April 2022 and will now be rotated through campuses. The Shifting the Lens photo series will be displayed in the Queens Tower Rooms in Summer 2022. Proposals are before the President’s Board for the introduction of portraits of notable women and ethnic alumni for the Council Room in 170 Queens Gate. A “College Culture’ video channel is also being developed to be shown on existing and new plasma screens throughout College spaces.

 

A second Media Academy for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and postgraduate students programme will run this year. This is a joint project by Communications and Imperial As One and will train attendees in how to prepare for journalist interviews, podcasting, videos and use social media effectively.

 

• Professor Sara Rankin has secured funding from Research England to increase representation of UK students of Black or mixed Black Heritage into postgraduate research programmes. A suite of events and initiatives have been planned, including working with Digital Revolutions marketing group to develop a national marketing campaign and provide 40 fully supported scholarships and two-week research intensive summer programmes in Biomedicine or Engineering in July 2022. A Black Graduate Careers Conference will take place on 23 June and The Power of Mentorship event for Black postgraduate students will be launched later in summer 2022.
• Ten Imperial undergraduate students are working with Insight2Uni to be mentors to 20 black pupils in Year 12 at London state schools. The collaboration, launched last year, is an initiative by the College's Outreach departmentsupporting the College’s aspiration to double the intake of Black home students by 2025, as part of the Access and Participation Plan. 

• A Race Equality Charter Town Hall meeting took place on 11 May 2:00-3:00. It was hosted by Imperial’s REC Co-chairs, Anique Varleigh, Head of Exams & Assessment, Business School; and Stephen Curry, Assistant Provost for EDI, and included a short welcome by Imperial As One Co-Chair, Desmond Samuel. The event presented the aims of the Race Equality Charter work the College has committed to, including actions already underway and priorities. You can watch the recording on YouTube.
• Cohort 2 of the free online module Union Black: Britain’s Black Cultures and Steps to Anti-Racism has now ended. A further Cohort will be offered in September and meanwhile we will be requesting feedback from staff and students who enrolled on the unit.
• The Department of Bioengineering has launched the James West Scholarships scheme to provide three fully-funded scholarships for Black and Mixed Black Heritage PhD students.

• Two Race Equality Charter Town Hall meetings will take place on 10 May 2022 11:00-12:00 (for a student audience) and 11 May 2:00-3:00 (for a staff audience). These sessions will be hosted by Imperial’s REC Co-chairs, Anique Varleigh, Head of Exams & Assessment, Business School; and Stephen Curry, Assistant Provost for EDI. The Town Hall meetings will present the aims of the Race Equality Charter work the College has committed to, including actions already underway and priorities. You can now register for this event. Questions about REC are actively encouraged both at registration and on the day.
• Recent external appointments to College Council in 2021 have increased the percentage of external council members from Black, Asiana and Minority Ethnic backgrounds from 20% in 2019 to 38% in 2022. This has gone further than our target of 30% in our Action Plan.
• The College has launched seven new Presidential Scholarships for Black students with Home fee status. These include one BSc and one MSc in the Faculties of Medicine, Natural Sciences and Engineering, and one MRes in the Business School. These scholarships will be offered annually and funded for the next five years.
• We encourage staff and students to commit to anti-racism and engage in dialogue on Black racial identity by enrolling on the free online module Union Black: Britain’s Black Cultures and Steps to Anti-Racism. The unit is open to both staff and students and provides learners with an understanding of the origins and experience of Black British history and dispel myths to inform, challenge and contribute to the anti-racism agenda. Read further details about the Union Black anti-racism course.
• The Provost’s Visiting Professor Programme was launched in December 2021. This is an annual programme which is designed to recruit academics from Black-heritage and other under-represented backgrounds, will host up to four new academics for between six and 12 months, with salaries and some travel costs covered by the College.
• In December 2021, a Communicating about ethnicity working group was formed by the central College Communications Team. This group is leading the drafting of guidance which will be available to all students and staff at the College. The group will seek feedback from key stakeholders within the Imperial community before its publication in summer 2022.