Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine ED&I Forum
The University of Warwick is proud of its diverse community of staff, students and visitors, and its place in our region. The University is committed to maintaining its excellent record in teaching and research by ensuring there is equality of opportunity for all, fostered in an environment of mutual respect and dignity. Established in 2022, the purpose of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) Forum is to identify and share good practice, and to make recommendations regarding ED&I issues affecting our staff, students, stakeholders and visitors. The SEM ED&I Forum is happy to hear from, and to support, other staff and student forums across the University's community.
To contact the Committee, please email SEMAdmin at warwick dot ac dot uk.
Membership
The membership of the Forum consists of staff representatives from each of the ten departments with the faculty; members of the University's Social Inclusion and Widening Participation teams; student representatives from a variety of departments; and members of the Faculty team. Other people are invited to the Forum as required for sharing good practice and updating the Forum on wider University events and policies among other things.
Governance
The Faculty ED&I Forum provides an annual report to the SEM Faculty Steering Group and regularly feeds into the Social Inclusion Steering Group via the Vice-Provost and Chair of Faculty. It provides updates to Heads of Department and other members of the faculty and university as necessary. The Forum currently meets bi-monthly.
Objectives
The objectives of the Forum are to engage staff and students in ED&I issues; to identify and share good practice; to make recommendations to the Social Inclusion and SEM Faculty Steering Groups; to share information between members; to make funding recommendations for faculty-wide and cross-faculty ED&I events and programmes; and any other items that fall within the Forum's remit.
Message from the Chair of SEM ED&I Forum: Professor Olanrewaju Sorinola
I am very honoured to be the founding Chair of the Faculty of SEM ED&I Forum. The Faculty of SEM ED&I Forum's mission is to enable all staff and students to achieve their full potential within a culture and environment that is diverse, inclusive, supportive and fair. We want to embed an inclusive culture which encompasses our teaching, research, and collegiate environment thereby providing excellent staff and student experiences. Our objective is to amplify student and staff voices in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusive workplace culture. Please email SEMAdmin at warwick dot ac dot uk if you would like to contact me.
Good Practice: February 2026
SEM ED&I Forum: February 2026
The SEM ED&I Forum met in February of 2026. A verbal report will be taken to the Faculty Steering Committee and a full, written report will be given in June. A member of the Social Inclusion Team will be invited to a future meeting to discuss Equality Impact Assessments.
The substantive item of business surrounded Athena Swan submissions. Questions surrounded the accuracy of data; resource allocation and workload modelling; senior recognition; and the perceived value of obtaining the award. Workload was identified as a big issue and this will be brought to a future meeting as a wider discussion on staff, both academic and professional services.
Congratulations were issued to Computer Science for achieving a Silver Athena Swan award. A team in Chemistry were recently awarded a prestigious Royal Society for Chemistry inclusive award.
The next meeting is scheduled for April. Any questions can be sent to Becks Andrew via SEMAdmin at warwick dot ac dot uk.
Departments
Each of the Faculty of SEM's ten departments are involved with promoting ED&I issues and events within their department:
Computer ScienceLink opens in a new window
EngineeringLink opens in a new window
MathematicsLink opens in a new window
PhysicsLink opens in a new window
PsychologyLink opens in a new window
Statistics (coming soon)
WMG;
The University also has its own webpage for ED&I where links to wider university projects can be found:
Inclusive EducationLink opens in a new window