Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to tackling all barriers and challenges to equal and fair participation in higher education and research.
In line with Lancaster University’s ethos of supporting and advancing equality of opportunity and equality of treatment, the Lancaster Environment Centre strives to be a diverse and inclusive department. We actively engage with contemporary challenges to participation in higher education and research, to drive the institutional and cultural change necessary to bring about social justice and equality in Academia. Our research, teaching, and students span the globe and we strive to do justice to the places, people, and communities we engage with locally and globally. We are promoting gender equality in the department through our Athena Swan work and promoting diversity and inclusion in our research, teaching, and practice through initiatives such as the EDI forum and our series of Decolonising LEC activities and our Disability and Equal Opportunities support.
LEC has established a departmental EDI Forum that helps to coordinate, communicate and promote the department’s efforts towards equality and inclusivity. The LEC EDI Forum meets once a term and in it are represented all key dimensions of LEC’s activities.
- Email us at lec-edi@lancaster.ac.uk
Tab Content: EDI Forum
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Forum supports, informs and coordinates EDI activities within LEC, in line with University and Faculty EDI policies and initiatives.
The forum facilitates the sharing of good practice and enables communication across the department, also serving as LEC’s interface with relevant fora such as the FST EDI Committee, the Disability Group, and Lancaster University EDI team.
The Forum is a collegiate, democratic body. All members of the Forum are collectively responsible to further LEC’s EDI agenda and each of them acts as the first point for issues related to their specific areas as well as any other EDI-related matter.
Membership and contacts
The members of the LEC EDI Forum are:
- LEC EDI Coordinator and Disabilities Rep – Giovanni Bettini
- Athena Swan Lead – Ally Gormally-Sutton and Suzanna Illic
- Wellbeing Officer – Kirsty Forber
- Departmental Administrator – Lynne Haley
- Director of Undergraduate Taught Programmes – Jackie Pates
- Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes – Nigel Watson
- Director of Postgraduate Research Programmes – Elizabete Carmo-Silva
- Student Programmes Officer – Steven Moorhouse
- Recruitment, Conversion and Marketing Coordinator – Cathy Dolan
- Postdoctoral researchers' representative – vacant
- PhD researchers' representative – vacant
- Master's students' representative – vacant
- Undergraduate students' representative – vacant
Mandate
More specifically, the EDI Forum has a mandate to:
- Highlight, share and publicise EDI-related good practice
- Manage the EDI section of LEC’s webpage
- Identify and address EDI-related issues, liaising with Department, Faculty or University when support is required
- Coordinate efforts to effectively communicate (to prospective and current students, staff and the public) LEC’s values, policies and support strategies for what concerns equality, diversity, inclusion and disability
- Receive updates from the Athena Swan Group and support their activities as needed
- Forward and review LEC’s policies and agenda concerning Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategies
- Support Admission team regarding inclusion and disability in recruitment
- Support bottom-up initiatives by staff and students on EDI-related issues
Tab Content: Undergraduate Students
Students are at the centre of what we do. We aim to provide the best quality education irrespective of background, learning approaches or support needs.
Inclusive Teaching Culture and Practices
As we strive to recruit and retain the most qualified and talented students, we aim to overcome barriers in our admission system and go the extra mile providing academic and pastoral support to students.
We utilise a combination of teaching and assessment approaches so that we can provide the very best education for all of our students. Students with learning difficulties and disabilities are supported by our departmental Disability Officer and the University's Disability and Inclusive Practice Service.
Academic tutor system
We offer an academic tutor system and an Individual Development Plan.
Tab Content: Research Students
Our goal is to recruit and nurture talented research students from a broad range of backgrounds and create an inclusive and stimulating research environment.
As a successful research-intensive department, we strive to recruit the best possible postgraduate students in a professional, transparent and unbiased process. In our teaching methods, we focus on personal supervision and supporting postgraduate students' independent research skills. Our postgraduate students are part of our labs and work closely together.
We organise social events and training courses which are open to all students including a programme of events in the welcome week to help new students get to know each other, and an annual conference which is held in the department providing students to present their work to staff and other students. Students are represented by student reps who meet regularly with PGR staff and have the opportunity to raise any issues and concerns.
For more information see the Graduate School for the Environment webpage or email the postgraduate research office.
Tab Content: Researchers
The research staff form a strong and vibrant community in our Department and play an integral role in driving the research agenda.
We aim to support all our staff to fulfil their potential in a variety of ways including peer support and mentoring. We organize workshops supporting early-career staff (or research students) that aim to become fellows or lecturers, as well as for staff members who aspire to progress to the next stage of their academic careers and ultimately to senior roles.
We aim to be a diverse and inclusive working environment, so we encourage applications from people in all diversity groups.
Tab Content: Staff
We strive to recruit and retain the most qualified staff, foster inclusive and parent-friendly working practices, and enable individuals to reach their full potential by providing plentiful opportunities for personal and professional development.
We aim to support all our staff to fulfil their potential in a variety of ways including peer support and mentoring. We organize workshops supporting early-career staff (or research students) that aim to become fellows or lecturers, as well as for staff members who aspire to progress to the next stage of their academic careers and ultimately to senior roles.
We aim to be a diverse and inclusive working environment, so we encourage applications from people in all diversity groups.