We currently hold the Athena SWAN Silver Award (awarded 2022) and are committed to delivering a diverse and vibrant work environment for all our staff recognising the array of inspiring experts through good employment practices. 

Our termly newsletter provides staff with information on training opportunities, resources, networks and university and school policies and our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Communication Plan ensures key messages reach staff in a timely manner.​

Our School Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee regularly reviews key policies and practices and effects positive actions through the ethos of the Athena SWAN Charter that promote a fair, inclusive and supportive environment for staff and students.​

Our School equality and diversity committee membership reflects and encompasses the diverse experiences and voices of our staff and includes professionals from Human Resources and the Equality and Diversity Office. 

We regularly review school policies and practices with the membership reviewed annually in January with a three-year term for the Chair position. The Chair is an Ex Officio member of the HSC Executive committee usually reporting bi-monthly. 

We meet every 4-6 weeks during core hours (10am-4pm), avoiding Norfolk Council school holidays, and rotating days of the week and venues. Committee minutes are accessible to all school staff.

HSC Equality and Diversity Committee responsibilities

Role

The role of HSC Equality & Diversity Committee is to regularly review HSC policies and practices and to effect positive actions through the ethos of the Athena SWAN Charter that promote a fair, inclusive and supportive environment for staff and students within the School.

Membership

The membership of HSC Equality & Diversity Committee should reflect the diversity of students and staff (academic and professional support staff) within the School (including gender, grades and roles), and include HR and E&D office representatives and the Head of School as Ex Officio members.

Membership is reviewed annually in January with a three-year term for the Chair position. The Chair is an Ex Officio member of the HSC Executive committee usually reporting bi-monthly.

Frequency of meetings

The committee will meet every 4-6 weeks during core hours (10-4pm), avoiding Norfolk Council school holidays, and rotating days of the week and venues. Minutes of all meetings are available to all staff via the HSC Equality & Diversity folder on the M: drive. 

Responsibilities

  • To promote a working/learning culture and environment within the School that is equitable for all.
  • To attain and retain Athena SWAN accreditation.
  • To implement the HSC Equality & Diversity action plan according to set timescales, working with non-committee members of HSC staff and students as appropriate. 
  • To work collaboratively with the Norwich Medical School to promote Faculty-wide policies and opportunities, and with the UEA E&D office and other UEA schools to share and implement good practices.
  • To provide regular verbal updates on the activities of the HSC Equality & Diversity Committee and provide an annual written report to HSC Executive on the data analysis of the annual staff survey.
  • To deliver an annual staff survey to collate and analyse opinions from HSC staff on their experience of the workplace, and to action key findings directly via HSC Equality & Diversity Committee activities or through informing relevant UEA or HSC committees as appropriate.
  • To meet at a minimum of 6 times per year.
  • To review membership annually.

Committee membership

Chair

  • (Vacant)

Internal members

Student representatives    

 

For enquiries contact Kenda Crozier (Head of School HSC) or Joanna Semlyen (Associate Dean Equality, Diversity and Inclusion).

Our Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) helps students with matters relating to their disability and any effects there may be on academic work directly or within the School more broadly. Disability Liaison Officers assist students in sign-posting to other University services who can assist with specific questions or difficulties. 
HSC Student Zone, an online resource tool for students, contains a section for students with additional learning needs including links to relevant sources of support and documentation. 

Student clubs and societies provide students with the opportunities to share interests, make new friends and develop new skills. 

Service Users can be anyone who shares insight and knowledge gained through their own life experiences and may have experience of illness or disability, of caring for other people; they may have experienced conflict, or be a retired professional using their experience to shape education.  
This allows us to provide care and develop services in ways that are better suited to the needs of everyone involved and support independent living. 

We understand the importance of supporting and advancing careers and are actively working to support staff and their career choices to enable them to reach their potential and achieve success. This includes providing training opportunities and establishing a robust appraisal and line management process. 
 
Recent initiatives include: 

  • Promotion Workshop: An opportunity to increase understanding of the process, speak to Promotion Committee members and hear from colleagues across the Faculty on their promotion experiences.  A new promotion workshop for research associates was implemented in 2019 and a Career support workshop for Professional Services staff was held in February 2020
  • Promotion application exemplars: Anonymised exemplars of successful and well written promotion applications for sharing best practice 
  • Induction schedules and packages: Clear induction arrangements for new staff with an Induction pack of useful information and resources 
  • Leadership training opportunities via the UEA internal training scheme for all staff and through external schemes including the Aurora network
  • Appraisal and mentoring scheme: For all staff for career development, promotion support and inductions
  • Staff Development Funding: Clear process for applying for funding for professional and personal development for all staff
  • Study Leave: Structured process for academics to enable completion of professional qualifications
  • Return to work fund: Structured process for all staff to apply for funding to enable smooth return to work after a period of leave.

We recognise the importance of mentoring to support career development for all members of staff. Mentoring is encouraged and valued without being obligatory within our school.  

Education mentoring

Academic staff can request mentoring specifically for career development or for support with promotion.

Research mentoring

We are pleased to announce that we have completed a small pilot of a new school research mentoring scheme. Research mentoring is any support for the individual to develop and maintain the quality of their research, research profile, standing and strategy (Durham University, 2016). The findings of the small pilot will inform the decision to roll out the scheme across all research active staff in the School. The small pilot targets academic fellows, Research Lecturers (ATR)/Senior research associates (SRA) who recently joined and scholarly lecturers (ATS) on a pathway to ATR as mentees, and ATR Senior Lecturers and above as mentors. 

New staff

All new staff are allocated a mentor, in addition to their line manager, to provide them with informal support during their induction period.