In this guest blog, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team based in HR give an overview of the new and existing EDI support available to research and academic staff at the university
EDI in Action
The HR EDI team has been extremely busy throughout 2024, and it looks like 2025 will be no different. While we may seem a little further away from the coal face of research there’s been a lot we’ve been cooking up that does/could impact your experience at Edinburgh and your internal and external research journey. We’ll be taking you through a whistle-stop tour of what’s new (and still here) in the EDI space, helpfully mapped against the Researcher Development Concordat to keep us focused.
Environment & Culture
2. Ensure that institutional policies and practices relevant to researchers are inclusive, equitable and transparent, and are well-communicated to researchers and their managers.
While HR and all the departments that make policy seek to ensure that such policies are inclusive, equitable and transparent, there are two policies worth highlighting, one from last year and one hot off the policy press in February 2025.
The Menopause Policy compiled previously existing policies and procedures and then focused that advice and guidance into creating this specific policy for an inclusive and equitable environment for those experiencing the menopause.
The new Reasonable Adjustments Policy takes previously existing guidance, expands it, aligns it and creates a great step-by-step policy for requesting reasonable adjustments. It also comes with detailed management guidance and a new Individual Adjustments Plan to help you take your adjustments with you.
3. Promote good mental health and wellbeing through, for example, the effective management of workloads and people, and effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment, including providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.
We’ve listened to our communities and improved the clarity of the Respect at Edinburgh pages making it easy to see what applies to staff and what applies to students.
In 2025, we’ll be supporting the work to review the Dignity & Respect Policy, in tandem with the expansion of the Report+Support platform to staff deliver on our Athena Swan action plan, our Equality Outcomes and improving the everyday experiences of staff and students.
4. Ensure that managers of researchers are effectively trained in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion, wellbeing and mental health.
We have more than doubled our suite of EDI-related e-learning in 2024! These are bespoke to Edinburgh, are engaging and use a combination of information transfer and scenario-based learning. You can access them all here – Staff EDI Courses and Resources | Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Brand New Courses
- Allyship
- Gender & Sexuality Awareness
- Neurodiversity
- Preventing Sexual Harassment
Updated Courses (actually totally new courses)
- Inclusion Essentials
- Introducing EqIAs
- Understanding Unconscious Bias
But we haven’t stopped there, on Monday 24th February we also launched a brand new Neuroinclusion Hub. This comprehensive hub gives a range of information, learning, research and advice on navigating and maximising neuroinclusion… and this is only Phase 1!
Employment
1. Ensure open, transparent and merit-based recruitment, which attracts excellent researchers, using fair and inclusive selection and appointment practices.
The already very popular and well-embedded Diversifying Recruitment Guidance has had a 2025 glow-up with new-look ‘Designed’ and ‘Plain’ Guides that better highlight the advice within. In partnership with a refresh of the more general Recruitment guides, as well as new recruitment e-learning, recruitment at Edinburgh just got a little more inclusive.
Personal Development
We also launched new Interview Shadowing Principles in Winter 2024. We’re not pushing these too hard in the current financial climate, but they’re a great set of principles to help researchers develop their skills and techniques by learning from (interview) panels.
Beyond the Concordat
Looking beyond things that directly link to the Concordat to more general work that’s been done…
We have new-look pages which now have the same great stuff just in all the right places. Last year was Phase 1. Phase 2 this year will look at how we make more of our pages dynamic hubs of information, which tell our stories better, going beyond being simple repositories of information. Explore the EDI pages.
There is now, for the first time, a full EDI Governance structure for the University consisting of the overarching EDI Committee (EDIC) and then the five Sub-Committees: Disability & Inclusion, Gender Equality, Faith & Belief, LGBT+, Race Equality & Anti-Racism (REAR). All these committees are a blend of professional services, academic and research colleagues and work to develop our culture, structure and processes to be inclusive, no matter where or who you are.
We’re also continuing to work hard in creating more spaces for conversations and greater community amongst those working in/support EDI work across our University – which seems to be working! This is more than just stuff coming out from the middle, it’s also all about getting areas and specialisms talking and sharing with each other. There’s fantastic work being done around Research Cultures, as well as world-leading research into topics related to EDI – so we’re working to try and make sure that things are joined together, shared and championed.
Beyond all of that, we’re working with AdvanceHE on a pilot for a more “Holistic EDI” approach to an inclusive HE sector. We continue to mainstream the Athena Swan Silver Action Plan and find ways to map the Research Cultures work across activity at all levels of the organisation. Plus, there’s lots of exciting things coming up for 2025 which we haven’t even mentioned yet including; a stronger Anti-Racist offering, greater support for EDI Committees at all levels of the University and working on our 2025-2029 Equality Outcomes. And that’s before we know what the new EDI Lead, Fiona McClement, who started on Monday 24th February, has planned for EDI at Edinburgh.
To conclude
Hopefully this has been a helpful run-through of some of the work that’s been happening in our patch which connects with your world of research. Explore our pages and reach out to us as a team – we’re here to help.
