The People and Culture Committee is a subcommittee of the University Management Board. The People and Culture Committee is Imperial's high-level committee for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and is chaired by Professor Hugh Brady, President of Imperial.
On 1 September 2023, Professor Lesley Cohen and Dr Wayne Mitchell were appointed to the role of Associate Provost (EDI), taking over from Professor Stephen Curry. You can email Lesley and Wayne directly to raise any issues or concerns.
University leaders on EDI
Lesley Cohen, Associate Provost (EDI)
Lesley is Professor of Experimental Solid State Physics in the Department of Physics. Since joining Imperial in 1991, she has held several leadership positions, including Consul for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Education Office, Head of the Experimental Solid State Physics Group, and Director of Postgraduate Studies for Physics.
Lesley was responsible for setting up the Juno Committee in Physics, which was the key factor in the department being the first in the country to be awarded both Juno Champion status and an Athena Silver Swan Award. Lesley was also the first Faculty of Natural Sciences Academic Ambassador for Women. In recognition of her activities to promote transparency, equality and employment best practice, Lesley was the first recipient of Imperial'sJulia Higgins Medal.
Wayne Mitchell, Associate Provost (EDI)
Wayne is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Immunology and Inflammation, where he is also Senior Welfare Tutor and Graduate Teaching Assistant Coordinator. He first joined Imperial as a Research Fellow in 2005, and returned in 2015.
For a number of years Wayne has been involved in the running of Imperial As One, our race equality network for staff and postgraduate students. He was also a member of Imperial’s Race Equality Charter Self Assessment Team and Imperial's History Group.
In 2022, Wayne co-hosted the Black Graduate Career Conference. This led to a collaboration researching the impact of Black Lives Matter on people of colour in higher education, and Imperial hosting the first Symposium on Transatlantic Racial Reckoning (STARR): Imagining Anti-Racist Academic Worlds in 2023.
Kani Kamara, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre
Kani has worked for Imperial for a number of years in several roles. She started as an HR Advisor, and became a HR Manager for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, before moving into the EDI team.
Now the Head of the EDI Centre, Kani provides leadership on EDI support and consultancy services for teams and departments in across the university.
Kani is also the team lead on harassment support and one of the team's disability support advisors.
If you want to talk to Kani or a member of the team, please book an appointment through our system. You can also email Kani directly.