Brain Sciences Celebrates EDI Achievements

The EDI Celebration Awards 2023 event aimed to recognise individuals who are contributing to equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion at Faculty of Brain Sciences and beyond. The event celebrated the achievements of approximately 85 nominated individuals across the Faculty.

The awards ceremony began with an opening speech by Professor Anna Cox, who serves as the Vice Dean for EDI. Anna emphasised the significance of EDI in the learning and work environments and the importance of celebrating success as progress is made. Leadership plays a crucial role in achieving this success, leading to the presentation of the first award category, ‘Contribution to EDI in Leadership.’ The winner was Stefanie Anyadi, who has actively led a project to promote diversity and challenge implicit bias through their Caleidoscope project. Through their workshops and training methods, they have successfully shared their vision and inspired the wider UCL community and abroad at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Next, Dr Steven Bloch, the Vice Dean for Education, briefly spoke about the significance of inclusive practices in education and how they benefit the learning environment at UCL. He then presented the award for ‘Contribution to EDI in Education and Student Experience.’ The winner was the Institute of Neurology (IoN) EDI Action Group, including Tim Young, Tracy Skinner, Jessica Jiang, Benito Maffei, E’Jane (Yi Jie Li), Kangxin Chen Huang, and Mena Farag who have made significant contributions by conducting the IoN student survey on wellbeing, mental health, and career development, organising ‘Paths to PhD’ events, and providing Active Bystander training for students.

Professor Courtenay Norbury, the Vice Dean for Research, then recognised the work of researchers across the Faculty and specifically praised the establishment of the Centre for Equality Research in Brain Sciences. Courtenay then presented the award category ‘Contribution to EDI in Research.’ The winner of this category was Audrey Zhang for conducting a research project that explored the ‘Effects of Personal and Contextual Factors on Status and Belongingness of First-year Undergraduate Students.’

After the Contribution to EDI Research award, Professor Lasana Harris, who serves as the Vice Dean for International, proceeded to present the award for ‘Contribution to EDI in the International Community’. to celebrate the substantial contributions of EDI in the global scene at Brain Sciences. This category was awarded to Angela Hwang, who founded the first epilepsy genomics project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on analysing the genomes of diverse groups of people with epilepsy.

Dr Joseph Delvin, former Vice Dean for Innovation and Enterprise, presented the award category ‘Contribution to EDI in Innovation and Enterprise.’ He emphasised that innovation and enterprise are crucial in achieving the Faculty’s vision for solving brain science’s greatest health and wellbeing challenges. The category was won by Georgia Pavalopoulou, Irina Nedelcu, and Ruth Moyse, who led the development of the new training curricula to address the wellbeing of autistic people through enhanced access to mental health support and recovery plans as a part of a national rollout in England and the Southeast.

Lastly, Professor Alan Thompson, the Faculty Dean, announced the Dean’s Excellence in EDI award winner, Natalie Marchant. Natalie was recognized for her exceptional leadership and involvement in promoting EDI initiatives and practices in the Division of Psychiatry. She initiated various projects, including the Divisional In2Science internships, name-blind recruitment for research Grade 6b posts, and founded and led the Race Equity and Ethnic Diversity group.

Alan wrapped up the ceremony by recognising the astounding accomplishments in advancing EDI across the Faculty. He highlighted the achievements of five departments with Athena SWAN Silver awards and one with Bronze, as well as the key departmental staff that included Directors of EDI, Inclusion Leads, Athena SWAN Chairs, and EDI Professional Services staff within each department. Additionally, he acknowledged the EDI Faculty staff team, including the Vice Dean EDI, EDI manager and coordinator, 5 Equity Leads, Equality research centre director, and BAME awarding gap lead, who provides guidance and supervision to Faculty-level EDI work. Alan pointed out that there is still much work to be done within the Faculty to address inequalities related to protected characteristic groups and achieve the prestigious Athena SWAN Gold awards as a measure of excellence. However, the prioritized investment in resources and the commitment of individuals and teams throughout the Faculty indicate positive progress in the right direction.

The post-event gathering was heartwarming as people interacted over delicious food and drinks to celebrate the accomplishments of nominees, finalists, and winners. The Faculty takes pride in staff and students involved in EDI for their unwavering dedication to promoting EDI and upholding good practices. Keep up the exceptional work!