Imperial celebrates the diversity of its community

The first ever Diverse@Imperial Week showcased the College's diverse community and the talent within it.

Starting on Monday 30 January, the week included a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion, and a lecture on how STEM-research can be more responsible and inclusive. In addition, a photo and archive exhibition in the Main Entrance on the South Kensington Campus showcased staff and students stories, alongside information on the work of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Centre and the College’s staff networks. 

Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson, Professor of Basin Analysis, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, featured in the exhibition

Professor Jeff Magee, Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said: “Our Imperial community is made up of dedicated people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. That diversity is a great strength of our community – it is something we need to continue to celebrate and nurture.”

Celebrating our diversity

Wednesday saw ITN journalist Nina Nannar chairing a panel of five members of Imperial staff from across the College for a discussion of what diversity and inclusion mean to them. Nina shared some moments from her own career, recalling joining ITN 16 years ago and realising she was in a room of white men wearing blue shirts. 

Meriame Berboucha, fourth year MSci Physics student, featured in the exhibition

Dr Joao Cabral, Reader in Soft Matter in the Department of Chemical Engineering, spoke about the support he had received from Imperial as a new father, including shared parental leave and the Elsie Widdowson Fellowship scheme, for academic staff returning to work after parental leave. Joao shared his experience of making a decision to be a bit more visible as someone in a same-sex relationship – despite not wanting this to be a defining feature of his professional life – in part out of a feeling of responsibility towards his students.

Professor Sara Rankin, based in the National Heart & Lung Institute, is one of the College’s new Dyslexia Champions. These new roles have been introduced to support a dyslexia-friendly culture and offer additional support for colleagues. As someone who grew up with undiagnosed dyslexia, she spoke about her commitment to supporting people to work at their full potential, and the different strengths that people who are neurodivergent can bring to the workplace.

Michaela Dijmarescu, Project Coordinator in the School of Public Health, featured in the exhibition

Professor Shiranee Sriskandan, a clinical academic in the Department of Medicine based at the Hammersmith Campus, discussed the challenges she sees for her colleagues and students, with black and minority ethnic students under-represented in Imperial’s School of Medicine.  

Inclusive innovation

Imperial’s Vice-Provost (Education), Professor Simone Buitendijk, delivered a lecture on gendered research and inclusive innovation. Simone gave some examples of why this matters – and how serious the consequences can be if research is approached with bias rather than inclusivity:

• Women with ischemic heart disease are typically mis- or underdiagnosed, as for decades only male populations were studied, and the evidence standards for diagnosis were based more on how the disease presents in men.
• The motor industry has been using crash test dummies to develop new models since 1948, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that test dummies designed to reflect women and children were used – and the first test dummy to model the impact on pregnant women was only designed in 1996.
• When large datasets contain societal bias, algorithms learn that bias too – and can even exacerbate it. If an algorithm is given a large amount of text that contains more examples of the role ‘computer programmer’ being correlated with male pronouns or names, it could develop a search tool where sites about computer programming run by a male author are rated as more relevant than those with a female author.

Beyond Diverse@Imperial Week

More information on related support and activities are available on the website:

• Equality at Imperial and the Diversity Pledge
• Information on outreach for Imperial students and staff
• Family friendly benefits
• Diversity staff networks