Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

Our mission is to create a truly inclusive environment, building on our cherished cultural diversity, where students and staff flourish, reach their full potential and are proud to be part of the University.

Social justice has been a cornerstone of Queen Mary from the establishment of our four historical institutions to the present day, and it is at the heart of our 2030 Strategy. Our mission is to create a truly inclusive environment, building on our cherished cultural diversity, where students and staff flourish, reach their full potential and are proud to be part of the University. This will support us in our aim of becoming the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere.

We are proud of what we have already achieved, including:

  • making investment in resource to deliver our People, Culture and Inclusion Enabling Plan, and our wider approach to Staff Engagement
  • being one of only three universities in the UK to renew an Institutional Silver Athena Swan award (gender equality) and achieving 12 School level awards (four Silver and eight Bronze)
  • publishing our Ethnicity Pay Gap in addition to our statutory Gender Pay Gap as a joint report, with a commitment to intersectional analysis (gender and ethnicity) and measuring our disability pay gap for the first time
  • being the highest scoring Russell Group university in the Social Inclusion Rankings in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021
  • setting up our Race Equality Action Group (REAG) in 2020 and A Steering Group for Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment and Misconduct (PHASE) in 2022
  • strengthening our Trans Inclusion Statement of Commitment in 2022
  • establishing our three staff networks (LGBTQ+ Staff Network (QMOut), Parents and Carers Network and the Staff Disability Network) with a further two in the process of being established (Race Equality Network and Gender Equality Network)

While we celebrate these accomplishments and the work undertaken by members of the University community, we recognise that over the next 10 years we must ensure we embed EDI throughout all aspects of our University.

Supporting the strategic delivery of our ambitious aim is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group (EDISG) chaired by the Vice Principal (People, Culture and Inclusion).

Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.

Our reformer heritage informs our conviction that great ideas can and should come from anywhere. It’s an approach that has brought results across the globe, from the communities of east London to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.