We are committed to ensuring that our ethnic minority staff and students feel valued as part of our community and do not face barriers or discrimination of any form. We encourage all our staff to read and ensure they follow Imperial’s policy on racism.

As part of our membership of the Race Equality Charter, in 2019 and 2020, the College carried out a number of focus groups, to provide an insight into the experiences of ethnic minority staff and students as they work and study with us. The report from these focus groups is available online. In December 2020, Imperial As One commissioned two staff focus groups, the first focusing on Black staff members with the second open to members of Imperial As One. This report is now available to download from the IAO website. The College has also developed and collated resources and information to advise white staff and students on How To Be a White Ally.

We liaise with Imperial As One, an advisory group made up of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff. Imperial As One hold regular events throughout the year and during Black History Month, this includes the Belonging series of interviews exploring the BAME experience at Imperial. One of these stories includes a Life Sciences member of staff, Dr Roya Haghighat-Khah

Message from the Head of Department - Black Lives Matter

The Department of Life Sciences stands in solidarity against the systemic racism against black people and shares the shock and distress of yet another black life horrifically taken because of the colour of their skin. We mourn this tragedy with you: Black Lives Matter. 

Alongside our colleagues across departments, we have been identifying and dismantling structural barriers to allow more black people and other minority groups to enter and thrive in our world leading educational environment. This includes compiling large amounts of data over the last 18 months to prepare an application for the Race Equality Charter on behalf of Imperial College London. You can read more about this work on our equality, diversity and inclusion website.

It is our responsibility to evaluate ourselves and our departmental practices daily for biases, prejudice and discrimination, be it overt or unconscious.

We are listening. So that we can take meaningful action, please share your experiences of racism and discrimination throughout your education and your career and suggest how we can make improvements via our DoLS Online Suggestion Box.

Professor Anne Dell CBE FRS FMedSci
Head of Department