The School of Agriculture, Policy and Development aims to create a supportive, fair and inclusive working environment for the benefit of all its staff, students, partners and visitors.
We seek to enable all staff and students to fulfil their potential, and to foster a working environment that protects their physical and mental wellbeing. Work and study environments that support people to feel free to be themselves, while respecting others and embracing diversity, are more successful and innovative.
How we support you
We promote flexible working and good working practices, mentoring and coaching, mandatory unconscious bias training for those involved in recruitment, and extensive support for promotions.
We are data-driven in our approach, using staff and student surveys and datasets to inform, prioritise and evaluate the actions that we take.
Visit our EDI padlet to see what actions we have been taking recently. Please email us if you would like to showcase your EDI activity on the padlet.
As a School, we hold an Athena SWAN Bronze charter mark. Athena SWAN promotes representation, progression and success for all. It focuses specifically on the advancement of women's careers across higher education in all academic fields. The charter also promotes our support for transgender staff and students. Coordinated by our Self-Assessment Team, we are currently working toward our next Athena Swan submission in 2024.
We have also joined AgRespect, pledging to stand against prejudice and to support diversity, equality and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people in rural communities.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team is led by our School Diversity Champions: Dr Alice Mauchline and Dr Andrew Ainslie, and Dr Jake Bishop, the Chair of the School’s EDI Committee. The EDI committee comprises representatives from staff and students across the School.
For further information, suggestions or comments relating to EDI in the School please email Alice, Andrew and Jake using our shared EDI email address.
We have an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for 2019-2024, which we are following and continually developing in response to new data.
Read our Action Plan for 2019-2024 (PDF)
Learn about University-wide measures to increase Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Support for wellbeing
Learn about support the University offers for staff wellbeing