Foreword
Professor Kamil Omoteso
PVC Dean and Chair of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee
I am delighted to present this year’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion report. The progress that we have made is strengthened by the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategy (EDIW, 2022-2025) and demonstrates our commitment to inclusion.
Our approach to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing aims to enable a felt, lived, valued and inclusive experience where people feel they have purpose, place, choice and belonging. Embedded through six core standards:
- a culture of belonging
- a zero-tolerance approach
- being free from bias
- diversity of thought
- intersectional by default
- a strategy for wellbeing
Through our strategy, we firmly see inclusion as everyone’s business, and we distribute accountability to deliver progress and impact.
This report draws attention to the University’s achievements this year where inclusion and wellbeing are embedded and acknowledged as a strength, such as in the recent Teaching Excellence Framework exercise, where once again the University of Derby was awarded Gold. In the Stonewall Workplace Index, the University received another gold award for its inclusive LGBTQIA+ environment and became a Top 100 employer, having improved our ranking again this year. We were the only university invited to contribute to an All-Party Parliamentary Group report on Faith Friendly Workplaces, launched at the House of Lords and we are the first university to engage in the Race Equality Code, focusing on governance practice.
The University was also awarded the best health and wellbeing initiative in the 2023 Universities Safety and Health Association (USHA), Health and Safety Awards and informed government policy on workplace menopause as we participated in a Ministerial Roundtable. The annual People and Planet audit places Derby as a top 30 University for Sustainability, rising by 29 places this year. Our successes in inclusion and wellbeing are important to us, and we continue to benchmark ourselves to identify best practice and strive for progress in all areas of inclusion and wellbeing.
We have maintained our sharp focus on equity. We have increased the diversity of our reporting pay gaps further and for the first time published our disability pay gap information. We now voluntarily publish disability and ethnicity as well as the mandated gender pay gap information. Our work to support women’s career progression remains a high priority as we prepare for Athena Swan Institutional Silver and we have taken a deep dive into our ethnicity data and await the results of our submission to the Race Equality Charter, acknowledging our gaps with planned interventions.
We recognise that there is a deeply felt connection between inclusion and wellbeing that rests in an environment where people feel psychologically safe to be their whole self. The findings from last year’s race survey told us that ethnicity is important to the way that people feel connected to us. In response, we have established the annual Race Lecture Series to promote and embed ongoing race-related dialogue.
This year we launched the Wellbeing Framework. Our approach to wellbeing is holistic and connects inclusion and wellbeing to how people experience work and is delivered through 8 pillars:
- Emotional
- Physical
- Spiritual
- Environmental
- Occupational
- Social
- Digital
- Financial
We firmly see inclusion as everyone’s business, and we distribute accountability to deliver progress and impact. This report draws attention to several of the University’s achievements, where inclusion and wellbeing are embedded and acknowledged as strengths.
As I reflect on the year, I am particularly proud of the successes that we have achieved in relation to race equity. The University successfully submitted to the Race Equality Charter (REC) for Bronze. The REC is a helpful framework through which we measure our performance, identify areas of focus to further race equity and deliver a structured approach to talent management. It has been a professional highlight to chair the steering group and provide opportunities for colleagues to collaborate and engage at a university-level. Our plans for Silver are helping to shape the next stage in this journey as we actively seek ways to increase the diversity of our leadership groups, provide opportunities to grow our talent pipeline and positively contribute to the research environment.
Similarly, we further demonstrated our commitment to race equity this year in becoming the first university to achieve the Race Equality Code for our governance practice and senior leadership. In collaboration with Governing Council (GC) and Executive on the Race Equality Code, inclusion and wellbeing have become embedded into their way of working, including a development plan that is delivered on an ongoing basis. Most recently, workshops on building 11 psychological safety and LGBT+ lived experience within education settings have been presented to raise awareness and understanding and increase diversity of thought.
We recognise that there is a deeply felt connection between inclusion and wellbeing that rests in an environment where people feel psychologically safe to be their whole self. To facilitate trust, we launched a new anonymous reporting platform for people to informally tell us about incidents of poor behaviour, such as bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct. Our findings from the annual staff engagement survey tell us that trust amongst our employees is improving annually and we remain committed to this shift in our culture.
Allyship has been instrumental to the way that we have delivered inclusion this year. Lived experience has been a prominent feature of our approach and in step with national diversity days, campaigns and initiatives, colleagues have helped to open and promote dialogue around mental health and neurodiversity. We have increased the number of accredited mental health first aiders (MHFA) who are mapped against areas of work and study and provided access to a support network that ensures continuous professional development (CPD). A newly created network of trained neurodiversity champions (NC) was also launched to help improve the way that we support neurodiversity across the University, and they provide visible points of contact.
Belonging is a key culture shift that has our attention. In the latest round of the Stonewall Workplace Index, we were delighted to retain Gold for the third year for LGBT+ inclusion and take our place in the Top 100 (13/100). Ensuring that we recognise and promote difference within the different LGBT+ communities has been important, as well as the sponsorship from a member of the Executive. Collaborating with external networks has ensured that we maintain best practice, and through our partnership with the Multi Faith Centre, we had the space to recognise national days, like Trans Day of Remembrance.
Opportunities to engage with development have underpinned all aspects of inclusion and wellbeing this year. We want people to thrive whatever their background or identity and in June we hosted the annual Inclusion Conference on Cultural Intelligence (CI). The conference was a public facing event and featured keynotes, and workshops on a range of topics, such as CI and religion, CI and community and CI and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Similarly, the Race Lecture Series has again presented a series of thought provoking and insightful discussions on matters of race, belonging and community.
Over the year, our rich catalogue of development has drawn attention to minority lived experience: gender, race, disability, neurodiversity and autism and we have ensured that the connection between inclusion and wellbeing is explicit. Our approach to wellbeing is holistic and connects inclusion and wellbeing to how people experience work and is delivered through 8 pillars: emotional, physical, spiritual, environmental, occupational, social, digital, and financial. Again, this year, we offered a festival of workshops and seminars across all 8 pillars to support the framework and with the Work Health Hub, we continue to build our resources around issues of menstrual health in the workplace and men’s mental health.
A measure of the impact of our inclusion and wellbeing activity can be seen through the disclosure data included in this report. Over the last year, our data shows that the number of people refusing to disclose their protected characteristics has again decreased. We would like to see all disclosure rates continuing to rise in this way because it is a clear demonstration of a culture that has inclusion at its centre.
This report shows that we have a lot to be proud of, but we are not complacent. We will continue to promote inclusion and belonging to all our employees, students, visitors, and partner organisations and will use the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing strategy to take meaningful measures that enable the University to achieve its ambitions and provide interventions that exceed our Public Sector Equality Duty.
The Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategy’s themed objectives
1 Accountability and leadership
We will embed inclusion within our governance practices to improve accountability and leadership. Equity, inclusion, and wellbeing will be discussed openly at all levels to engender trust and remove any barriers that equip poor attitudes and hinder progress. We will actively take time to listen to people’s lived experience and shape our processes to enhance staff engagement.
2 Culture and belonging
Develop a culture that is compassionate and culturally sensitive, foregrounding connections with others through our networks; locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Collaboration is a key underpinning feature of this strategy, recognising that shared ownership will deliver success. We work closely with our critical friends, networks, allies, employees, and partners to enrich the inclusion agenda and to help us build cultural competencies within our staff and student populations and enhance and strengthen our engagement with the community.
3 Workplace representation
Evolve a workplace that prioritises diversity and equity, maximising the potential of our people.
We aim to improve equity in the workplace by taking proactive steps to empower potential and unlock talent. We will do this by attracting and retaining a diverse workforce that is representative of the city and the region, and that our leadership is representative of the staff body, thereby increasing diversity of thought.
4 Wellbeing and accessibility
Accessibility and wellbeing are inclusive and universal, creating a full people experience.
We take an holistic approach to wellbeing and prioritise workplace health and wellbeing by providing tools and a programme of activity that drives a positive wellbeing environment. Our leaders will manage wellbeing in a consistent way, undertaking open conversations that support good mental health. We will integrate universal accessibility and inclusion into the needs of the organisation, our students, and our employees. We will plan and design inclusion and wellbeing into our buildings and increase digital capabilities through learning.
5 Evaluation and recognition
Gain external recognition through inclusion and wellbeing charter marks, delivering excellence.
We will evaluate our success through the recognition we achieve in the charter marks and employer recognition schemes that we submit to. Through the Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan, our data will enable us to address race and gender equity in the employee lifecycle, our research environment, academic pipeline, and student outcomes. The Mental Health at Work Commitment will increase accountability and responsibility for workplace wellbeing.
6 Student engagement
Cultivate a landscape that embeds inclusion and enables our students to thrive, succeed and become socially transformative.
We enable successful outcomes for students by offering a diverse curriculum that is inspiring and thought provoking. We will deliver positive mental health support for all students and enable employability opportunities in real world settings.
Staff and student data
Staff data
Gender
Our staff body is made up of:
- male 41%
- female 58%
- transgender 1%
The number of people who identify as ‘transgender’ has increased from 7 in 2022-2023 to 12 this year.
Gender Pay Gay
Ethnicity
- ethnically minoritised 16%
- ethnically white 82%
The percentage of staff who identified themselves as an ethnic minority has increased this year from 15% to 16%.
Ethnicity Pay Gap
Disability
- declared disability 11%
- no declared disability 87%
The percentage of staff with a declared disability has increased this year from 9% to 11%
Disability Pay Gap
Sexual orientation
- straight/ heterosexual 85%
- gay man 1%
- gay woman/ lesbian 1%
- bisexual 2%
- other <1%
Religion and belief
- with religion and belief 51%
- without religion and belief 40%
Staff at the University observe a number of faiths and beliefs and the Religion and Belief Staff Network provides a space for dialogue and reflection.
Age
- 21-30 13%
- 31-40 23%
- 41-50 28%
- 51-60 25%
Student data
Gender
Race
- all ethnic minorities groups 25%
- ethnically white 55%
Disability
- with disability 15%
- without disability 85%
Sexual orientation
The overall numbers of students from the LGBT+ communities have remained the same this year.
Age
We have seen a 2% increase in our students who are under the age of 21. We have also seen a 1% decrease for students 21 to 25 and a 1% decrease in students aged 25 to 29 since last year.
Culture
The continuing improvements that have been achieved in relation to inclusion at the University demonstrate an intrinsic link between culture and staff satisfaction and the ways that the University strives for excellence in EDI.
Staff networks
Derby is a values-driven University, and its commitment to creating space for inclusion and a place for belonging is demonstrated in the way that it puts people at the core of its culture.
The University encourages its staff to participate in open dialogue through seven staff networks, which are:
- Gender Equality Network
- Race Equality Network
- Faith and Belief Network
- LGBTQ+ Equality Network
- Disability, Access, and Wellbeing Network
- Aurora Women's Network
- Diversifying Leadership
Each network offers, a safe space for peer-to-peer support, provides a consultation route for staff, presents opportunities to collaborate with the Union of Students, and helps embed inclusion across the whole University.
Gender Equality Network
The Gender Equality Network has celebrated International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month, International Men’s Day and Non-Binary People’s Day with workshops and communications.
Race Equality Network
The Race Equality Network has celebrated Black History Month and established the annual Race Lecturer Series. There has also been an increase in employees delivering workshops from a lived experience point of view.
Faith and Belief Network
The Faith and Belief Network has marked key religious dates throughout the year with communications and training opportunities.
LGBTQ+ Equality Network
The LGBTQ+ Equality Network has marked awareness days throughout the year. The progress flag was raised across the University sites marking LGBT+ History Month. During the month, training was delivered across the organisation to raise awareness of the issues that LGBT+ people deal with, and to give our staff the skills they need to support them.
Disability, Access and Wellbeing Network
The Disability, Access and Wellbeing Network has highlighted support and opportunities available throughout the year. Disability History Month provided an opportunity to promote the Sunflower scheme to our staff and students, which supports people with hidden disabilities.
External networking
The University continues to work with its regional partners to improve the lives of those in the community by offering the opportunity to bring together CPD (continuing professional development), research and keynotes. Collaboration of this nature is informing the way regional public services improve the delivery of inclusion agendas for their staff and services.
Wellbeing
The University takes a holistic approach to wellbeing. Throughout the year, members of staff and students were offered the opportunity to improve their understanding of wellbeing, learn to stay active, and take self-help steps to maintain positive mental and physical wellbeing. The activity included mental health awareness, understanding neurodiversity, domestic abuse, hate crime awareness, as well as a range of diversity and inclusion workshops.
