We are committed to improving the diversity of the speakers we invite as part of our Departmental seminar programmes. When hosting or organising events, we suggest our department follows the College’s recommendations for promoting EDI at conferences. We run a full seminar programme organised around our seven research themes. Each theme has a representative and this forms out department seminar committee. Consideration is given when selecting speakers to inclusion of underrepresented groups and early career researchers. Each external speaker is accompanied by an internal PhD student or postdoc speaker from the department. We are committed to matching our postgraduate student gender ratios with our speaker choices and in the year 2021-22, 43% of our speakers were female.

In addition, we also hold events in our Department and across the College within the theme of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. We have an active EDI Events Committee in Chemistry run by a group of PhD Students and Postdoctoral Research Associates.

A Women at Imperial Event was held on 11 March 2022 in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Talks were given by female students and staff on their research in the department and a ‘Break the Bias’ panel session was held in the afternoon. A raffle was held to raise money for the West Hampstead Women’s Centre.

To help  support all our female employees to thrive in their roles and their career progression we held a Menopause seminar in April with Jo Fuller, Menopause and Menstruation Coach and Educator. 

In June 2023, we heard Prof. Tom Welton speak on Pride history and role models at our Pride Event. 

In September, members of the deparmtent were involved in the Day of Doubt. This was the first conference organised by The Good Science Project. The theme was research culture and the values needed for good science.

In December 2023, we will embrace our diverse community and host a world food day. Staff and students will have an opportunity to bring a traditional dish that represents their origin/culture to share it with others. 

Events