Who we are and activities

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Advisory Group members

• Thorunn Helgason (Convenor) - Thorunn is a Professor of Ecology. She came to Edinburgh in 2022, having moved from The University of York. She was Deputy Head of School at York as well as Chair of their Biology Department's EDI committee. Thorunn also sits on the Equity and Diversity Advisory Group of the British Ecological Society. 
• Louise Bishop (Administrator and member) - Louise is Institute Operations Team Leader and PA to Head of School and Director of Professional Services and also supports the Director of EDI and the Advisory Group.

Members

• Karen Rafferty – Professional Services (SOT)
• Sara Buonomo – PI (ICB)
• Elise Cachat – PI (IQB3)
• Edward Dewhirst - Professional Services (BTO)
• Maria Filippakopoulou - Professional Services (Graduate School) 
• Fiona Giles - Professional Services (BTO)
• Selin Gumusderelioglu – PDRA (ICB)
• David Radford – Academic (IQB3) and Co-Chair of Staff Pride Network
• Evelyn Telfer – PI (ICB) and Director of Impact
• Edward Wallace – PI (ICB)
• Marcus Wilson – PI (IQB3)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Leads

• Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Professor Thorunn Helgason
• College Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) – Professor Jean O'Donoghue (Chemistry)
• 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

Annually we run the School's Career Coaching programme, normally launched in March with applications opening, and successful candidates starting their session early June.

Career coaching

The School also have a fund for Additional Caring Cost which is an initiative that came out of the EDI Group a few years ago.

Additional Caring Costs Fund

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.
  • Covid-19 Staff Survey 
• 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 an ideal School of Biological Sciences would look like in 2030 from an 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 then leads worked with the SBS EDI Advisory Group, continuing to collect 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.