Who we are and activities

Meet the School's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Leads and Advisory Group members and find out about more about group's activities.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Advisory Group members

  • Sinead Collins (Convenor) - Sinead is a Professor of evolutionary Biology. She came to Edinburgh in 2007, having worked in Germany and in Canada. Outside research, Sinead blogs and podcasts on science and society.
  • Louise Bishop (Secretary and member)- Louise is secretary for three of the School's Institutes and also supports the Director of EDI and the Advisory Group.

 

  • Anahi Binagui-Casas
  • Edward Dewhirst
  • Louise Horsfall
  • David Radford
  • Edward Wallace

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Leads

  • Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Professor Sinead Collins
  • College Dean of EDI in Systemic Inclusion – Professor Karen Halliday
  • EDI Administrator – Louise Bishop

The EDI leads, in conjunction with the Head of School, Director of Professional Services, SEC and the SBS EDI Advisory Group shape and direct EDI actions at the School of Biological Sciences.

Key Activities

In 2020/2021, some key activities were:

  • Compiled and ran a Covid-19 Staff Survey and 2021 Follow-up Surveyto gain data on the impacts and disruptions for different types of staff. there will be another Follow-up survey launched in October 2022.
  • Undertook a thorough Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) on new work procedures and return to campus plans for the School during and after the initial Covid-19 lockdown periods.
  • Brought together a group of staff and students to brainstorm what and ideal School of Biological Sciences would look like in 2030 from and EDI perspective.
  • Published a statement on tackling racial inequality and established an online form where staff and students can anonymously or not anonymously record their experiences with, or comments on racism, harassment or microaggressions. The School is also working, along with College level colleagues, to decolonise the curriculum.

In 2022, the leads will work further with the SBS EDI Advisory Group, continue collecting data from staff related to the impacts of Covid-19 disruptions, develop a comprehensive EDI Strategy for the future and respond to staff, students and sectoral needs. We will also be replacing our Athena SWAN award with a more inclusive EDI document showing all out efforts in this area.

Please direct questions to sbs.EandD@ed.ac.uk.

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