Moving from Diversity to Inclusion 2016-19
Our vision
Our vision is an inclusive, sustainable, diverse and vibrant physics community, which is reflected in the Institute’s membership, governance and staff.
Our mission
We will continue to be a leading champion for diversity and inclusion across the STEM community. We will continue to build and leverage a diverse and inclusive membership and workforce by developing leadership capability, investing in those in their early career and recognising the need to value all contributionsto our work and our activities. Our approach will be to engage in mutually beneficial partnerships that respect diversity and include groups with diverse backgrounds. We believe in open innovation and sharing resources to widen our reach and strengthen our capacity.
Introduction
The Institute has long been committed to delivering progress on diversity and inclusion within the physics community and our membership. More recently, we have also been concerned with understanding and promoting the value of diversity and inclusion within our own governance structures and ensuring there is an inclusive working environment for all our staff.
We live and work in an increasingly diverse society and successful moving to ensuring we are more inclusive in all aspects of our work will ensure that colleagues, staff, members and the physics community at large are valued, motivated and treated equitably. The Institute recognises that the case for diversity is more than just legislative; we believe that the success of our organisation and our community relies on our ability to recruit, nurture and retain the richest mix of talent. We need to ensure that all those who wish to engage with the Institute and to engage with physics study or careers have the opportunity to do so.
We define diversity as being the individual characteristics that make us all different: our backgrounds, beliefs, ages, genders and so on. Being more inclusive means actively involving and engaging with those differences to ensure they are not a barrier to any type of participation. We believe that without a diversity of people we cannot be more inclusive, but without being more inclusive, there is little value in having more diversity. We will aim to ensure our approaches help us move from diversity to inclusion as we work towards achieving our strategic goals.
Governance
The Institute’s diversity and inclusion committee will take ownership of the strategy but recognises that many other committees and groups will be involved in delivering the goals, particularly Education committee who govern the Institute’s girls in physics work. DIC will refer issues and make recommendations to other groups, committees or to Council as appropriate.
Strategic goals of the diversity and inclusionprogramme
Integrity and openness are at the heart of everything that we do and we believe firmly in equality of opportunity for all, confronting barriers to inclusiveness and participation wherever we encounter them. These core values are an expression of what we believe in and how we behave as an organisation.
We have set out below thefour Strategic Goals for the programme and linked each to the appropriate theme in our IOP strategic plan (2015-2019).
Link to IOP Strategic Theme/s- Championing diversity and inclusion across the STEM community
Community
- Building capacity on diversity and inclusion within the Institute’s activities and governance
Community
- Promoting wider participation in physics education and careers at all levels
Economy
Discovery
Society
- Ensuring we have an inclusive working environment where all staff respect and value each other.
Strategic goal 1: Championing diversity and inclusion across the STEM community
We are a leader amongst other learned societies with our approach to diversity, managing it strategically through our Diversity Inclusion and Education committees, which report directly to our Council, and providing dedicated staffto deliver a programme of activities around the major issues of diversity in physics.
We were amongst the first signatories of theRAEng Concordat and the Science Council Declaration and we will continue to take a visible role in delivering on our commitments. We have appointed a diversity champion on Council who will continue to take a strategic lead both within the Institute and within the STEM community.
Objectives and Priorities for action 2015-2019Adopting our own Project Juno principles and working towards achieving the equivalent of Juno Champion as an organisation
Providing leadership on diversity and inclusion issues to the STEM community by proactively contributing to strategic activities, committees and forums
Developing existing and new strategic partnershipson diversity and inclusion
Holding national workshops, seminars, conferences and other eventson diversity in STEM issues.
Strategic Goal 2: Building capacity on diversity and inclusion within our activities and governance
In order to champion diversity and inclusion at the highest levels of our organisation, we need to build capacity in our governance and management structures. All those involved in our governance should be championing our values of fairness, inclusion and respect.
We recognise that we need to ensure that there are no barriers to participationin any of our activities. We must build partnerships internally to work with our own colleagues and members to ensure that all that is delivered is truly inclusive.
Objectives Priorities for action 2015-2019Annually monitoring diversity in the Institute’s governance and recommending actions for change to Council and other Committees
Promoting our values and developing inclusive leadership in our governance
Ensuring our membership activities are fully inclusive
Goal 3: Promoting wider participation in physics study and careers
Over the last decade we have built a robust and substantial evidence base to inform our programme of work across gender, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic background. We have delivered projects and publications that have led, and continue to lead the way, in spreading good practice and making a significant contribution to the body of research available to the STEM community. In the last two to three years alone, we have published reports in many different areas such as:
- Closing Doors, exploring gender and subject choice in schools
- Supporting STEM students with dyslexia
- Gazing at the Future: the differing experiences of male and female PhD students
- Raising Aspirations in Physics, exploring the research around engaging young people from a lower socio-economic background in STEM.
- Equilibrium: A Guide to Managing Career Breaks.
The phrase “science capital” is used to describe a person’s previous exposure to science – i.e. family qualifications or background, understanding, knowledge (about science and ‘how it works’), personal interest, etc. We need to build science capital in under-represented groups. We recognise that there are barriers to different groups at different stages of their physics careers and that there is not an individual factor that affects participation but a complex interaction between different factors for different groups at different stages.We must build effective strategic partnerships with external partners, as we recognise that much of what we deliver cannot be done in isolation.
Objectives and Priorities for action 2015-2019Identify programmes and projects to raise participation, aspiration and attainment for under-represented groups at all stages of physics education and careers.
Investing in Project Juno and ensuring it is a robust framework for equality in physics in wider settings
Developing new strategic partnerships to build and promote science capital
Goal 4: Ensuring we have an inclusive working environment where all staff respect and value each other.
Ensuring that we have inclusive working environment goes beyond our HR policies and procedures. It means ensuring that all our employees’ contributions are valued, that they all feel able to contribute and that our working environment is one in which all employees are treated with respect, embracing a culture of inclusive views, opinions and ideas.
We will promote our shared values and treat all current and potential employees, no matter what their personal circumstances, location or working pattern, with dignity and respect.Of course, this requires all employees to do their part, to engage in training and development on these issues and to be advocates of our values, challenging inappropriate attitudes or behaviour. We will build capacity internally on diversity and inclusion through inclusive leadership opportunities.
Goal 4: Priorities for action 2015-2019Promoting our values to ensure there is a culture of fairness, openness, transparency and inclusiveness
Ensuring that our policies and practices, including our recruitment practices,are open, transparent and free from bias
Ensuring diversity and inclusion are promoted throughout our leadership and management capabilities
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