Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded into everything we do at the university, but it couldn't be this way without our dedicated staff and student community, who help incorporate inclusivity through actions, initiatives and excellent behaviour.
We know that sometimes, these actions can be overlooked - so we wanted to celebrate all of our staff and students who go the extra mile to live by the EDI values the university promotes.
Meet our EDI Champions - staff and students who not only incorporate EDI values into all they do at the university, but help to encourage and educate others to follow suit.
Each person below has been nominated by a colleague, who has written a short quote explaining why they chose their candidate/s as an EDI Champion.
"Ella champions LGBT+ inclusion in her teaching and all that she does and has been involved in LGBT+ History Month celebrations"
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"Brad champions LGBT+ inclusion throughout the university, but especially on Sutton Bonnington campus"
"Chris is the Deputy Director of EDI in the Vet School and is an APM member of staff who really champions EDI throughout everything she does at the university"
"Chris is one of the Deputy Directors for EDI in the Faculty of Engineering. He is extremely passionate about EDI and proactive with identifying gaps and looking at ways to change culture and improve student experience and achievement"
"Laura is the staff wellbeing activities officer for the Faculty of Engineering. She champions the link between wellbeing and EDI and is proactive and dedicated to improving the experience of staff in all areas of the faculty"
"Gemma is leading the FoSS Sphere challenge on de-colonising the curriculum. She is unfailingly respectful and I so appreciate the way she is looking to embed EDI into the day-to-day experience of staff and students"
"Isobel has taken over responsibility for the faculty sphere challenge to support women during Covid-19 and its aftermath. She has gone above and beyond in progressing this work and she has carried out the vision and execution herself. I cannot speak highly enough of her collegial leadership on this work"
"Roshan is a research leader and BAME role model at the university. Over the last 10 years, he has secured research grant income of more than £21m and has been awarded multiple research grants from national organisations"
"Mia plays a significant role in promoting EDI in the School of Education. She is the Athena Swan SAT deputy chair, takes responsibility for arranging various recognition month activities and is overall enthusiastic and supportive. Without recognition, she gets on with championing EDI"
"Alex has been a significant contributor to the LGBT+ History Month Programme Board, being open about the multiple protected characteristics that make up their identity and talking honestly to help create a better understanding amongst the university community"
"Andrew is the EDI Director in the School of Chemistry. He consistently champions LGBT+ inclusion and inclusive recruitment practices as well as leading on de-colonising the curriculum work in the school"
"Marilena works within the Language Centre and has taken the lead in CLAS in accessible teaching, delivering helpful presentations to colleagues and providing resources to enable us to understand all our students' needs and how to address them better"
"Before graduating in 2022, Amir was an influential training offer at Nottingham Nightline in his final year. In partnership with a colleague, he oversaw the recruiting and training of over 180 volunteers into the organisation"
"Laura has been an outstanding advocate for disabled staff and an indispensable resource for disabled colleagues and colleagues with long-term health conditions at the university"
"Yvonne co-chairs an inclusive curriculum task and finish group and has had a symposium accepted at last year's Teaching & Learning Conference. She has also published articles about de-colonising medical curricula"
"Debra has championed EDI in her work, developing guiding principles for researchers as part of her work on Connected Everything, overseeing an EDI cards project for researchers, along with supporting the development of EDI Expectations for EPSRC"
"Tarik is an academic member of staff who has worked tirelessly to diversify the curriculum in the School of Humanities"
"Rachel is a BAME Champion in the Faculty of Engineering, contributing towards many Women in STEMM initiatives along with a Sphere funded project to raise awareness of racial and religious discrimination, whilst celebrating cultural differences"
"Katie is Deputy Director for EDI in the School of Maths and always champions inclusivity. She has led work with students to address cultural/behavioural challenges and is also co-editor of the Women and Pride in Maths newsletter "
"Hongwei was one of two members of staff who set up the ‘Stop Asian Hate Nottingham’ group, following a rise in racist hate crimes related to the pandemic. This has led to the creation of a formal Staff EDI Network and work to raise awareness amongst students of this form of racist hate crime"
"Ting Chang jointly set up the ‘Stop Asian Hate Nottingham’ group, following a rise in racist hate crimes related to the pandemic. Ting, among other colleagues, was tireless in campaigning on these issues. This has led to many developments, including work by the SU to raise awareness amongst students of this specific form of hate crime.
"Jodie has done a lot of work to support neurodiverse members of staff in her team, undertaking a huge amount of research to find out what support was available. Since then, she has written a plan for line managers as well as highlighting a need for more specialist support for neurodiverse staff and their line managers"
"Janet works tirelessly to support the Witty Scholarship Scheme. She is so passionate about EDI, and in particular supporting students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. She has set up a scheme where students can access work clothing for placements and also helped support the NUBS Africa Summit"
"Pat was instrumental in setting up the informal Neurodiversity Staff Network at the university and has always been a champion for work on neurodiversity locally. He is a leader in EDI circles and a role model to many people across the university"
"Judy is one of two faculty ‘BAME Champions’. She has been fantastic in ensuring that BAME perspectives are brought to bear on a range of faculty processes. This is in addition to a lot of other work she does in WP, community engagement and her own research which advances equity and justice"
"Manish is the Senior Operations Officer in the Rights Lab, in the Faculty of Social Sciences. As a member of the Rights Lab's EDI committee, he has championed the importance of diversity in staff cultural celebrations, for example leading on the organisation of Lab-wide Diwali festivities"
"Leia is one of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science’s LGBTQ+ champions. She is passionate about visible allyship and is always looking to inspire those around her to be more inclusive, especially within the Anatomy department"
"Claire has done some great work to help create a more inclusive environment for neurodiverse staff in DTS. She has delivered presentations to help staff better understand neurodiversity and is able to speak from her own experience as well as information she has researched about other neurodiverse conditions like dyslexia and ADHD"
"Kim has already had a huge impact on EDI in the School of Physics & Astronomy by raising awareness through initiatives such as student podcasts, the LGBT+ handprint canvass, the gender equality wildflower pledge board, and sessions with therapy dogs to name only a few. She also prepares a monthly newsletter that clearly prioritises EDI issues and events"
"June has provided practical and emotional support to lots of carers at the university, helping them to navigate a whole host of complex processes and personal difficulties. Carers she's worked with were unanimous in their praise for June and many said they didn’t know if they would have been able to remain at work without her support, guidance and care"
This page will slowly grow to highlight all of the university's new EDI Champions.
If you know someone who always champions EDI in everything they do but aren't featured in our campaign, please get in touch.
Find out more about the work the university is doing to be more open and inclusive on our EDI Webpages.
Trent Building University Park Campus Nottingham