Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
The School of Medicine is committed to equality for all our students, staff, and partners. We promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion, aiming to be a beacon of good practice.
Our core principles are that:
- Everyone in our community should be valued as individuals, respected, and treated with kindness in a fair, equitable, and inclusive manner
- We encourage, support, and recognise positive relationships, behaviours, and attitudes
- We all actively promote access to equality of opportunity and support active challenge of inequality, exclusivity, stereotyping and prejudice.
Our main objectives are that:
- Policies and processes' design, operation, and outcomes do not discriminate on any protected characteristic
- We maintain a balanced, sustainable, appropriately diverse workforce and student population
- We create an inclusive, respectful culture where everyone can participate and contribute effectively.
We have also developed more specific EDI principles and practices that we expect our School community to follow to create a better environment to work and learn in.
World and Institution-Leading Change
The School of Medicine and the University of Nottingham have been leading the way in equality, diversity, and inclusion with major projects including:
While we continue to look at all of our courses for ways to decolonise our curriculum and improve their equality, diversity, and inclusivity; our postgraduate taught Masters in Public Health courses have led the way as an exemplar for the University at large. Changes included implementing different learning and assessment formats, expanded reading lists, changes to lecture content, more focus on student-led learning experiences and multiple toolkits to improve our student experience.
Providing free period products for staff and students across our campuses, at home and abroad, to help make period poverty a thing of the past. The project was launched in 2020 in the Biodiscovery Institute by the School of Medicine's Professor Chris Denning and other colleagues before rolling out across the University.
In 2023, the University of Nottingham become the first University in the world to receive an Institutional Gold Award in part thanks to these initiatives from the School of Medicine. We are working towards achieving Athena SWAN Gold as a School in the coming years.
Achievements
Over the last few years we have made great strides as a School and a University to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
Some of our changes include:
- Improved and fairer policies for leave, progression, recruitment, and work-life balance
- Routinely promoting the importance of EDI at induction events including training for staff and students on unconscious bias and being an active bystander
- Constantly striving for a balanced representation of our School community in promotional materials
- Diversity and Inclusion Champions and EDI representatives across our student groups, academic units and platforms
- More effective reporting processes to help better resolve any issues
- Anonymised recruitment processes currently for administrative, professional, managerial and technical services staff to ensure people are hired based on ability
Future plans
While we've made some progress, we know that there's always more that could be done. Some of the areas we're currently working on include:
- Improving the governance structure of the School
- Improving feedback processes within the School
- Further breaking down barriers to study for undergraduate and postgraduate students
- Improving opportunities for training and support for progression and promotion of staff
- Further raising awareness of support that already exists to staff and students
- Improving collection and use of data to inform decision-making
Charters
Gender
The University of Nottingham is a proud member of Advance HE's Athena SWAN gender equality charter and has achieved the first institutional gold award.
The Athena SWAN charter recognises commitment to and progress on the advancement of gender equality in academia. It also recognises commitment to addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines, professional and support functions.
In 2019, the School of Medicine successfully renewed its Athena SWAN Silver Award status which is now valid until January 2025.
View the School's Silver Award renewal application for 2019
View the School's Athena SWAN Action Plan
Race
The School of Medicine is signed up to the BMA Racial Harassment charter, seeking to prevent and address racial harassment.
We commit to:
- Supporting individuals speaking out
- Ensuring robust processes for reporting and handling complaints
- Ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion across the learning environment
- Addressing racial harassment on work placements.
Find out more about the BMA Racial Harassment charter
The wider university is also signed up to Advance HE's Race Equality Charter.
LGBTQIA+
The School of Medicine is also signed up to the GLAAD UK Medical Schools Charter on So-Called LGBTQ+ ‘Conversion Therapy’ supporting the banning of all so-called LGBTQ+ ‘conversion’ therapy and seeking to ensure an authentic and inclusive environment and curricula for our staff and students.
We commit to:
- Supporting the banning of LGBTQ+ so-called 'conversion therapy’
- Formally calling on the GMC to recognise the harm of ‘conversion therapy’ and how participation in the delivery of ‘conversion therapy’ breaches the core principle that doctors should “do no harm”
- Agreeing that medical school students and staff should, under no-circumstances, participate in the provision any form of ‘conversion therapy’
- Ensuring that curricula include authentic and joyful representation of LGBTQ+ people, to challenge stigma and stereotyping
- Ensuring that curricula include an awareness of ‘conversion therapy’, its harms and the importance of working with LGBTQ+ patients to respect and affirm their gender and/or sexual identity
- Supporting LGBTQ+ students and staff to work in an environment free of hate, discrimination and harassment. This should include the implementation of future guidance on creating fair and equitable medical schools that challenges the exclusion of marginalised people, as outlined by the Medical School Council Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Alliance.
Find out more about the charter
Enquiries
For further information please email the EDI Team