Equality, diversity and inclusion are cornerstones of King’s Strategic Vision 2029. A key guiding principle of this vision is to create an inclusive environment where all individuals are valued and able to succeed. King’s aims to embed inclusion in its practice and culture to provide an extraordinary student experience and to be an employer of choice.

As part of this commitment, Equality Diversity & Inclusion works on a range of projects that pertain to specific protected characteristics. Often this takes the form of a self-assessment where we look at quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the impact that our everyday practices, processes and policies might have on a particular group of people. These self assessments allow us to apply a level of scrutiny and accountability over the way King's works, as well as benchmarking ourselves against other organisations in and beyond the higher education sector.

This has equally produced an impetus for us to promote an intersectional approach while undertaking these assessments, and to taking a more holistic approach to understanding, embedding and operationalizing diversity and inclusion across the organization.

This scheme has been developed as part of King’s work to diversify its staff team, particularly at senior levels where representation of Black and female staff decreases. 

The scheme enables departments to diversify their recruitment panel by including someone from our pool of volunteers. Volunteers are trained members of King’s staff who identify as female and/or being from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background.  

The objectives of the scheme are to: 

• Improve the candidate experience  
• Increase the diversity of thought on interview panels 

The scheme started as a pilot in the Entrepreneurship Institute, and is based on an existing scheme at UCL.

How will this make a difference? 

This scheme will enable a department struggling to diversify the gender and racial profile of its staff team to incorporate good practice into their recruitment process. This aims to improve the experience of candidates from minoritised groups, as well as to increase diversity of thought during recruitment.  

Improving the diversity of our staff team will not happen overnight. This is one part of a multifaceted approach, and we will be evaluating its impact as the project progresses.  

Why are we relying on minoritised groups to do this work? 

Participation in the scheme is completely voluntary and should be undertaken during normal working hours. We also believe that volunteers will benefit from the experience; for some members of staff, sitting on an interview panel will be a valuable developmental opportunity whereas others may see it as a way of contributing to King’s EDI work. 

Volunteers will be trained and given the chance to feedback on their experience.  

How will King’s ensure this is not a tokenistic gesture? 

Addressing a lack of diversity in certain areas is a complex piece of work and many interventions are likely to be needed. We encourage departments to use the data available to them to ensure this is the most appropriate intervention. It is also important that the chair of the panel has undertaken Diversity Matters training and understands that the volunteer is an equal panel member whose views should be heard and considered alongside those of the other members.  

What about the other protected characteristics? 

We are currently focusing on gender and ethnicity as women and those from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnicities are underrepresented at senior levels. A lack of gender and ethnic diversity on a panel is also likely to be more visible (although certainly not always). We will evaluate the scheme on a continuous basis and consider whether it should be expanded.  

What support is available for volunteers? 

Volunteers will receive training as required and the opportunity to give feedback on their experience. 

I’m interested in volunteering, what are the next steps? 

Please complete an expression of interest form.

King’s prides itself on being a university with an ethos of inclusive excellence. We want our people to thrive and seek to shape an inclusive, empowering culture in which all our staff and students can be themselves, and be treated fairly and with dignity, with their success determined by the application of their talents.

As part of our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) strategy, King’s is committed to developing and implementing EDI related policies, practices and interventions to advance our ethos of being an inclusive university. These policies, practices and interventions are developed ensuring we take account of our responsibilities in relation to the Equality Act 2010 and our duties to secure lawful free speech and academic freedom.

The Workplace Equality Index is a scheme run by Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ equality charity, that allows employers to evaluate their workplace in nine areas of employment policy and practice pertaining to LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Staff from across our university are invited to complete an anonymous survey about their experiences at work. Our EDI practitioners and LGBTQ+ staff network use it alongside our Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter as a helpful benchmarking tool and set of resources to draw upon.