Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – an interview with Karen Halliday

We speak to Professor Karen Halliday, College Dean of Systematic Inclusion who has just taken on a broader Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) remit.

What do you hope to achieve through your work as Dean of Systematic Inclusion?

What I really hope to achieve is to deliver systemic change which starts from getting us to think about equality, diversity and inclusion in a new way and for that new approach to be implemented in all of our practices. The petitions and debates that were triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement represent a call to action to change the system.

They are absolutely right to ask for this and I want to ensure the College plays a strong role in making this happen.

What I can bring is my expertise in systems approaches and in deciphering complexity. As a plant molecular geneticist I am used to working in this way, but feel these generic skills can also be used to identify the constraints and strengths of our system from an EDI perspective. I want to make it easier for students and staff to “get” EDI and to engage with it more directly. I would like to make it more accessible by highlighting, not just the key EDI issues, but the processes that need to be changed, and the mechanisms of change (when known). For me it’s important that this information sits outside EDI committees. I want EDI actions will be firmly grounded in data and evidence, rather than instinct.

I will draw on my long-standing experience as an EDI champion, as an interdisciplinary researcher, and as co-Director of eBase, an ongoing EPSRC-funded project that is researching the basis for gender-based disparities in grant funding.

What steps are the College and the University as a whole taking to ensure equality for all staff and students regardless of gender, race, disability or sexual orientation?

Over the years we’ve had a very strong and necessary push on equality for women and that really comes on the back of the Athena Swan accreditation process which has delivered much needed improvements in gender equality. While we have come a long way, this work is not complete, as women still face multiple barriers through their careers. There are also new challenges as evidence suggests the Covid-19 outbreak is impacting women harder than men in areas such as research.

In the months ahead I will develop a College strategy aimed at promoting equality, diversity, inclusion, and eliminating discrimination and harassment. In addition to the protected characteristics under the Equality Act (Age, disability, gender identity, pregnancy & maternity, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion & belief, marriage & civil partnership), I will also focus on socio-economic disadvantage, and incorporate specific measures to address the medium and long-term impacts of Covid-19.

Widening Participation (WP) will be an important new addition to the CSE EDI remit, and will benefit from increased support from the WP office and the new University WP Strategy Committee. The aspiration is to create a more adaptive system that is better able to support students from wide-ranging backgrounds and more resilient to unpredictable changes in student demographics. WP will be at the forefront of the College Covid-19 response, as the pandemic is on course to widen the existing attainment gap for students from the poorest backgrounds, and threatens to reverse previous WP gains.

BAME will be firmly on the agenda. I will represent the College on the University EDI Race sub-group, and the University Reparative Justice group. My aim is to pull on this expertise to implement recommendations in the 2019 Thematic Review on the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic Students. An important step in this process will be to set out an action plan for institutional change that eliminates discrimination, recognises and values diversity in our student and staff populations. As well as working with BAME experts, I will consult with affected groups to ensure we properly understand and represent the concerns of individuals within the University.

In the coming months it will be critical to determine the wide-ranging impacts of Covid-19 on staff wellbeing and institutional behaviour. Internal and UK-wide data already show Covid-19 induced shifts in work patterns and workload, increased stress, and imbalances in research vs teaching. This work will mitigate against the harmful Covid-19 impacts, but also identify examples of good practice initiated during the pandemic that we wish to keep.

The University has received a lot of criticism about its attitude to race following the Black Lives Matter protests. Do you think it’s justified?

In short, yes. I have already met with some of the staff and students that have been very active in the Black Lives Matter movement. My message to them was: yes, we have been slow as an organisation, our current internal systems do not serve all equally and need to change; we need to acknowledge this. As an organisation, we should give much higher priority to “diversity and inclusion” and this is the right time to make real change happen, when there is renewed public awareness and passion due to BLM. It won’t happen overnight, but I am hopeful we can accelerate the building of a fairer University for everyone.