EDI Action Plan

To expand/refresh membership with male student representative from iBSc/MSc/Phd/MD(Res) and/or male members of staff, including PS/technical staff, by engaging with:

May 2018

Increased male representation to 50%

39% male overall representation

Male SAT members increased (8 males; 12 females)

Continued recruitment of active male staff members

To increase student numbers over the next few years and enhance the proportion of women, by reviewing our marketing strategy, we will:

2020-21

iBSc Director, MSc Director, Institute Manager

Increased number of applications to 20 per year, with ≥40% female applicants

Goal achieved Student numbers increased significantly to 41 in 2020-21

i. promote the course to external candidates with strong interest in cardiovascular health and disease

Dec 2018

Increased no. of female students to act nearly 50% (20 females of 41 students)

Dec 2018

External candidates also recruited

2021

≥90% student data collected in ICS registry and annual review by SAT and DTC/SSCC.

Data collected and collated in line with GDPR guidelines

Data to be included on website

To encourage consideration of Cardiology as a career at an early stage, by:

2021

Clinical SAT members, HoRD of Clinical Sciences, iBSc/MSc Directors

≥40% female clinical staff

i. emphasising positive female role models in our iBSc/MSc recruitment and teaching (AP4.1)

ii. identifying key role models for students and young doctors at ICS Research Department of Clinical Sciences at Bart’s Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and UCLH

iii. mentoring and encouraging women clinical scientists annually to consider putting themselves forward for promotion

To record and explore formally reasons for leaving and future employment/plans in order to assess potential areas for improvement, by introducing and analysing an online exit survey

2021

≥95% known career destination for staff leavers and annual review by the SAT

SUPPORTING AND ADVANCING WOMEN’S CAREERS

≥95% uptake on mandatory training, in particular on Unconscious Bias, for new staff, and retraining every 3 years for current staff

Information gathered is limited by GDPR 

These processes have been affected by the pandemic: many courses switched to online to support uptake by staff, and have been highlighted at the Institute’s Town Hall meetings.

data quality needs to be improved, but analysis on available recruitment data has shown that female academic cardiologists are less successful than men during the recruitment process

To understand the reasons behind female academic cardiologists being less successful than men during the recruitment process, by engaging with ‘Women in Cardiology’, British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) and running a focus group for identifying barriers, and training in CV writing, presentation and interview

from BCS Annual Conference 2019 to 2023

Clinical SAT members

Equal success rates for women and men from initial application through offer

panels: diversities other than gender are not currently monitored in our selection panels for new posts

To monitor BAME representation in ICS interviewing panel, and increase the proportion of BAME members if necessary, by drawing from a UCL bias and selection expert pool of BAME staff

Dec 2019

≥33% BAME representation in interviewing panels

2017 = 22%

2018 = 15%

2019 = 42%

few scientists apply, in particular for Additional Increments/Contribution Points There is poor level of understanding of the promotion process (ICS staff survey 2017) and UCL introduced a new Academic Career Framework in Oct 2017 to help plan and support career development and recognise achievements.

To encourage more scientists to apply and improve understanding of promotion process and criteria, some actions have already been implemented as explained in Section 5.1(iii) and outcomes will be assessed in the next few months. However, we have identified further areas for action:

Institute Director, Institute Manager, HoRD,SAT

≥20% staff applying for Additional Increments/ Contribution Points/ Promotions annually with ≥80% staff reporting that they understand the promotion process and criteria (staff survey

i. to bring forward the invitation to research staff to apply to allow more time to prepare

Sept 2018

ii. positive action to ensure that PT staff are encouraged to apply and are supported

Sept 2018

iii. To run an annual research/academic promotions workshop led by senior ICS members at the beginning of September every year, in particular focusing on SMART objectives and making explicit the link between a fellowship as evidence of achievement and as source of funding

Sept 2018

iv. To review the Workload model used in appraisals to facilitate the discussion around promotion, in particular to ensure enabling activities are properly recognised

Dec 2018

all eligible female staff members (30% of total return) were returned at REF2014. We forecast an increase in the number of female returned, reflecting the increase in the numbers of female staff

To have a return for REF2021 with no bias for gender and/or other diversities and plan for impact case submission, by running a mock REF exercise

Oct 2018

Institute Director, Institute Manager, HORD, SAT co-chairs

No gender bias in the staff returned to the REF; ≥33% of ICS impact studies to include women

PS/technical staff: lack of a formal career structure at UCL makes progression difficult

To assess the need of encouraging PS/technical to apply for promotion, by monitoring application for regrading by grade, gender and PT/FT modes, introducing a tailored Workload model for PS/technical staff for discussion during appraisals and by adding specific questions to the bi-annual ICS staff survey

March 2019

SAT PS/technical staff

Promotion data, ICS staff survey results and Workload model forms from appraisals returned for SAT monitoring and assessment

To rise return rate further and assess quality of appraisals, by:

SAT co-chairs, HoRD

≥95% staff appraised annually with 100% of line managers completing UCL appraisal training and ≥85% staff finding appraisal constructive and useful (staff survey)

Organise workshop to raise awareness of appraisal system. ICS Management to raise awareness with managers and continued monitoring of success rate

i. adapting ICS staff survey to include specific questions

Jan 2019

ii. running focus workshops with different categories according to survey results

Dec 2019

iii. ensuring that all Line Managers undertake UCL Appraiser Training

Dec 2019

To increase the number of fellowship applications, by setting up an ad hoc task force, which will work with IMB and JF to actively seek candidates for fellowships, and support them through 1-to-1 mentoring, reviewing of applications and interview training.

Dec 2018

2021

Institute Director, HoRD, JF chair

≥3 ECRs (≥1 woman) identified annually to put forward for fellowship applications,

≥ 50% success rate

EDI committee supports RANG fellowship committee in planning and facilitating programmes for fellowship applicants.

To ensure that career development session are meeting expectation and to increase mentoring opportunities, by:

i. collecting formal feedback with short questionnaire at the end of each event

ii. piloting a mentoring scheme for PhD student groups, provided by JF ECR mentors, which will undergo training. This would allow us to overcome the main challenge of 1-to-1 mentoring in identifying enough senior female mentors and will allow development of mentoring skills in our ECR group

Sept 2020

SAT co-chairs, JF chair

≥50% of ICS students have a mentor and report positive effects in student survey

To monitor grant/fellowship applications vs. results, including gender differences, in order to highlight areas of strengths and weaknesses and to support academic/research staff in the application process, by allocating a PS Administrator to each Research Department. The Institute Manager will use new software tools to provide data and insight to inform improvements

May 2019

2021

Grant data report as agenda item at IMB and JF

Increased grant & fellowship success rate

To identify the barriers to training, reasons for lack of opportunities and specific needs, by running focus groups with PS and with technical staff, followed by short questionnaires.

Dec 2018

Institute Manager, SAT co-chairs, PS/technical staff SAT members

≥75% PS/technical staff responding positively in feeling supported in their career (ICS & UCL staff survey 2021)

To increase the availability of training session and improve the effectiveness of current courses, by ensuring training opportunities are offered locally (ICS shadowing, FPHS courses) and are proposed in relation to the ability to progress or be promoted.

May 2020

To improve networking and sharing best practices, by creating a Technician Network supported by a small budget; technicians from other Divisions within UCL who have successful implemented these networks could be invited to facilitate this action.

May 2019

To extend outreach programme and further incentivise uptake, by encouragement at appraisals, explicit linking to promotion, and reporting past public engagement activities in the News section of ICS website and at all staff events

≥75% staff (no gender difference) involved in outreach activities reported in the appraisal Workload model