About our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team

The Careers team supports all students, recent alumni and postdoctoral staff in developing their futures, as well as providing recruitment solutions for employers. To be able to do this effectively we need to understand and proactively tackle issues related to equality, diversity and inclusion. We also need ensure that our team is diverse in its constitution and is a truly inclusive place to work.  We are working on a number of initiatives to support positive change and development in these areas, as listed on this site. We have identified that racial inequity is an area that we specifically need to focus on and have therefore set up a new ‘Race Equity’ team who will work alongside the EDI team. The work of these teams is actively supported by UCL Careers Senior Management and also feeds into the work of the wider committees of Student & Registry Services and The Careers Group, University of London.

Our equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives

At UCL Careers, we strive to implement and succeed in our EDI initiatives in three key areas.

Support for students

• Students with a disability or long-term health condition
• Students from a BAME background
• Careers Extra - enhanced careers support for UCL undergraduates from under-represented groups
• Podcasts and events on the theme of equality, diversity and inclusion for students

Staff initiatives

• Fair Recruitment Specialist scheme to provide diverse recruitment panels as these are regarded as a significant element in fair and effective recruitment
• Dedicated monthly UCL Careers EDI newsletter
• EDI information included as part of staff induction 
• UCL Careers Racial Equality Teams site to discuss, share experiences and resources, including a weekly “In case you missed it” post to encourage personal and professional learning and development
• Online questionnaire in which staff can safely submit their questions and comments on topics relating to race equality and anti-racism 
• A collaborative calendar of events will be set up where careers staff can add events of interest to the group, external events and internal opportunities
• Events for UCL Careers staff to support their learning on anti-racism by hearing from alumni
• We also work with colleagues in Student Registry Services (SRS) division to support wider and cross department initiatives

Employer initiatives

• Engagement with different teams within the service such as Business Development and Events to improve employer and alumni representation
• Employer Guidance on inclusive practice to bring a diverse panel of representatives

Our equality, diversity and inclusion team 

Director of UCL Careers 

Karen Barnard

I believe that we need to be brave and encourage open conversations with staff, students and employers. This will be the start of any changes that we make. We need to truly listen and we must not be shy of making changes that disrupt our thinking. Our early actions will be to set up inclusive space principles to enable such discussion;  we will take a data-led, ‘root and branch’ look at our recruitment and progression processes in order to increase the racial diversity of the careers team and we will work with employers and alumni to diversify the positive role models attending careers events. The work of the Race Equity and EDI teams is constantly developing as we work to address the challenges that we face. I am proud that the UCL Careers team is not afraid of tackling issues that will ultimately support a better future for staff, students and employers alike."

Inclusions Leads

Sylwia Wasiak and Hidy Fu

Aim: Provide tailored EDI support, responding to the needs of UCL Careers through taking a proactive approach to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion within the department.

Our responsibilities include:

• Helping to promote equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Serving as a local resource, drawing attention to new equality developments and legislative change; ensuring staff and students are familiar with the relevant UCL equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and procedures.
• Being a first point of contact for EDI issues at UCL Careers.
• Liaising with Director of UCL Careers about implementation of good practice on EDI and helping to develop local action plans. 
• Providing feedback about EDI implementation within Careers, as well as on any specific issues, problems or successes. 

UCL Careers Race Equity Group

Nicole Estwick and Izzie Powell

The Group was set up to support the anti-racism agenda. It focuses specifically on race equality within careers and the work it does as staff working with each other along with students, employers and alumni. It also works alongside Inclusion Leads from the UCL EDI team to provide support tailored to the Careers Service.