Director's Pledges 2025
In support of the Division of Psychiatry’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, our Director has made the following pledges:
Pledge 1: Investigate how to co-produce a strategy that would reduce awarding gaps we have identified according to ethnicity, gender and domicile among MSc students
Progress: Reasons for awarding gaps were identified and comprehensive guidance has been provided to students and supervisors to standardise support. A survey of international student experiences has also been conducted.
Pledge 2: Add questions about well-being to the PhD student survey and work with students, Postgraduate Tutors and well-being champions to co-produce a Divisional PhD student well-being strategy
Progress: Questions about wellbeing were added to the Spring 2025 PhD student survey - these data are being analysed and the student handbook has been updated.
Pledge 3: Identify the main areas of career development need for Research Assistants and co-produce a plan to enhance career development opportunities
Progress: The research assistant peer group has identified key areas of need and are writing a career development handbook for RAs and their supervisors.
Pledge 4: Work with DoP EDI committee and exec to find ways of retaining Trial Managers (TMs), e.g. by including TMs in grant applications, sharing TMs knowledge and skills between projects, encouraging collaboration between projects, and scoping opportunities for ‘bridge’ funding.
Progress: The trial manager representatives have developed guidance on inclusion of TMs in grant applications and this is to be discussed with senior management.
Pledge 5: Conduct an externally facilitated focus group with Professional Services staff to discuss what the Division could do to support them.
Progress: A focus group is being planned for early 2026, and support was discussed during the recent PS staff away day.
Pledge 6: Increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ research in the Division, for example by showcasing LGBTQ+ related publications.
Progress: The LGBTQ+ working group keeps an updated list of relevant research, which are presented in MSc journal clubs and shared in DoP communications. A seminar in 2026 will showcase relevant research.
Pledge 7: Create a working group to: a) represent disability on the EDI committee, b) seek out the experiences of disabled staff in the division, and c) co-produce an action plan to enhance inclusion.
Progress: The new disability equity group has recruited members to seek experiences of disabled staff in the division and are devising an action plan. A survey on the draft action plan will be shared across the division to invite input from a wider range of perspectives.