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Equality, diversity & inclusion


 

The goal of the Department of Engineering is to provide an environment where everyone can feel at home and prosper. We are actively working to follow best practice on diversity issues and ensure everyone has the support and opportunities they need to achieve their full potential.

Diversity is crucial for enabling world leading research, impact and teaching. Working alongside people with different experiences and perspectives encourages innovation and creativity. It brings exposure to a breadth of knowledge, working styles and techniques, and it prompts us to develop ideas and consider decisions from multiple points of view. Furthermore, if certain groups are under-represented in our department, this means the talent pool we are drawing from is not as broad as it should be.

Ensuring an inclusive and supportive working and learning environment is a key part of the Department of Engineering's equality and diversity strategy, and is core to King's Strategic Vision for 2029. We are actively working to acheive these aspirations.

We strongly believe that equality and inclusion benefit all in society and we encourage everyone with a similar ethos to join us in our diverse and thriving community. You can contact the Department's EDI Lead via email.

What we are doing

Our Department Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee oversees all of our activities and feeds into the Faculty Equality and Diversity Committee. As part of continued reflection and development, we continually monitor the mood within our department through annual surveys and respond with decisive actions plans as and when necessary.

We work in a number of areas:

  • Proactive and inclusive recruitment. We take steps to make sure our job adverts are gender neutral in language and actively seek diverse candidates for these positions.
  • We offer a variety of different resources and support for students from under-represented backgrounds in Higher Education, including through the Success for Black Engineers intiative to encourage black students to apply at undergraduate level to study engineering at King’s.

Athena SWAN

The Athena SWAN charter was launched in 2005 to encourage and recognise the commitment of institutions to advance the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) in academia. The Department of Engineering was awarded a bronze Athena SWAN award in October 2020.

Athena SWAN bronze contensis

Women in STEM season

In 2024 King's is holding the first Women in Science Season - a month-long celebration that takes place between the the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February and International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Through a series of inspirational talks and panel discussions from a wide variety of speakers, Women in STEM Season aims to analyse inequality in STEM through an intersectional lens, including exploring why historically underrepresented groups, such as women of colour, are not equally represented in the sciences.

The campaign hopes to bring together staff and students from across King's science faculties to share empathy and allyship on how we break down the barriers faced by women in STEM, sparking new conversations and actions on building an equal place in science and technology, for the benefit of all.

Women in STEM season

 

 

Explore more

Engineering outreach

Engineering outreach

Learn about our outreach programmes, which are targeted to working with young people.

About

About

Find out more about the Department of Engineering.