Governance and leadership

Committees and groups

Imperial has a number of committees and working groups across the College focused on different activities and aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

• The People and Culture Committee consider strategic issues relating to people, culture and EDI, and is a subcommittee of the University Management Board
• The EDI Advisory Group is a dedicated space for in-depth consideration of significant issues and development of policy proposals 
• The EDI Forum acts as a listening post to capture and discuss EDI issues
• The Disability Action Committee works to oversee disability equality and to improve accessibility
• We also have self-assessment teams for our Athena Swan Charter and Race Equality Charter work, and a Stonewall Action Committee

The Equality Act 2010 and Imperial's Public Sector Duty

The Equality Act 2010 was a significant piece of legislation - it simplified, consolidated and strengthened the law, providing a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. The Act covers the rights of our staff and students, and prospective staff and students.

The Equality Act requires all public bodies to meet a General Duty. The Duty covers all protected groups (except Marriage and Civil Partnership) and requires public bodies to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

The General Duty is supported by specific duties:

• Publish equality objectives at least every four years
• Publish information to demonstrate compliance with the equality duty, at least annually

In October 2018, Imperial published our a Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, replacing our previous equality objectives. Work is underway to develop and launch a new EDI Strategy in 2024.

Our latest EDI Annual Report 2023-24 (pdf) gives a summary of our recent activities. 

Our latest Imperial staff EDI data (Excel) and Imperial student EDI data (Excel) are also available. Further data are also available on Imperial's gender and ethnicity pay gaps.