Making labs more inclusive places to work and study is focus of networking event at UCL East

TechsEDI@UCL is a relatively new group, made up of UCL technical staff who are interested in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across UCL and keen to support best practice in this area throughout our teaching and research.

Staff from both our Stratford and Bloomsbury campuses enjoyed a tour of the UCL Culture Lab, Precision Fabrication Workshop, Teaching Wet Labs and the UCL Manufacturing Futures Lab in our Marshgate building, all state of the art facilities on our UCL East campus. 

Presentations followed from UCL Access and Inclusive Design Specialist, Kathryn Aedy, who focused on access and inclusive design in lab settings, and UCL Innovation Lab manager, Oliver Collier, who shared the latest devlopments in a UCL-led project looking at wheelchair accessible lab coats.

The morning rounded off with a lively discussion and networking over coffee and cakes.

“It was highly beneficial to see how a building works for its occupants when accessibility has been considered from the planning stage, as well as what can still benefit from further improvement.

We learned what UCL has been doing to promote accessibility in its labs and workspaces and support projects focused on inclusive design.

It was a great session and we'd love to have spent even longer! Planning for the next one is underway, so please watch this space - both technical and professional services staff will be welcome.

A huge thank you to the lab and workshop managers who hosted the tour group, our speakers Kathryn Aedy and Oliver Collier for delivering their insightful presentations sparking lots of discussion and ideas, and the UCL East campus team who supported the event. TechsEDI@UCL

TechsEDI@UCL team

Isabel Goncalves Cattuzzo
Vijayalakshmi Krishnan
Lorella Rossi
Han Wu
Katie-Jo Thorpe
Sarah Wolferstan
Tom Carson

Find out more about EDI at UCL