Equitea

Equity is a distribution of opportunities such that everyone is being provided with what they need to ensure they do their best.
This is different to equality, where opportunities would be distributed equally, regardless of someone's circumstances.
[Source - "What is Social Justice?" Psychology Today]

a banner with a picture of a mug to the left with equitea printed on it and text to the right which reads a monthly forum to discuss topics related to equity diversity and inclusion ED&I in relation to Astronomy Physics and STEM

The Concept

Science is not performed in isolation - it is influenced by the people who perform it, and the world in which it is performed. Certain groups of people face bigger barriers to success when on their journey in science.

Our monthly Equitea meeting is a forum to discuss topics related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) in relation to Astronomy, Physics and/or STEM as a whole.

This meeting is open to everyone; you are encouraged to participate and attend regardless of your background. Even if you do not belong to a minority group, allies are very important! The aim of this meeting is to educate ourselves, listen to minority voices, and learn about perspectives and topics that we might not have considered before.

This is also a place for us to collect resources that further understanding in the above topics. You can find our amalgamation of resources >> here! <<

You can read up on the origin story of our Equitea meetings >> here! <<

Schedule

Our meetings typically occur on the last Monday or Wednesday of every month from 2 to 3pm. This may be subject to change (especially when external speakers are being hosted), so please double-check the schedule below for up-to-date meeting dates/times!

You can read up on past meetings, including notes and resources discussed, >> here! <<

2025

Date, Time	Meeting Topic(s)	Speaker(s)	Chair(s)	Recommended Reading
Weds 15th January 2025	Equitable practice in postgraduate research recruitment	Sam Giles (ext)	A. Faruqi	None
Mon 3rd March 2025	Integrating Disability Studies Into Physics	Mia Nicole Davies (ext)	E. Roberts	None
Weds 26th March 2025	The challenges of being trans in academia	Ares Osborn	A. Faruqi	None

Current Committee (2025)

Our committee is responsible for organising and chairing these meetings. They come from both the student (postgraduate) and staff (postdocs included) bodies, and their work on this is entirely voluntary. The committee changes every new year.

You can check out the members of the past committees >> here! <<

Role	Name (pronouns)	Email	Other links
Staff Lead	Heather Cegla (she/her \| they/them)	h.cegla [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Postdoc Lead	Vatsal Panwar (he/him/his)	vatsal.panwar [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Student Lead	Emily Roberts (she/her)	emily.roberts.1 [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Speaker Liaison (Staff)	Joseph Lyman (he/him)	j.d.lyman [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Digital Communications (Student)	Amena Faruqi (she/her)	amena.faruqi [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Member (Student)	Ankur Upadhyaya	ankur.upadhyaya [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Member (Staff)	David Brown (he/him)	d.j.a.brown [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Member (Staff)	Rebecca Nealon (she/her)	rebecca.nealon [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Member (Postdoc)	Marina Lafarga Magro (she/her)	marina.lafargo-magro [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Member (Postdoc)	Andy Buchan	andy.buchan[at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Advisor (Staff)	Farzana Meru (she/her)	f.meru [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Advisor (Student)	Gareth Jones (he/him)	g.jones.6 [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage
Committee Advisor (External)	Ares Osborn (they/them)	e.osborn [at] warwick.ac.uk	🌎 webpage 🐦 astro twitter 🐦 art twitter

Code of Conduct

By attending our Equitea meetings, you agree to abide by the following guidelines.

We are dedicated to providing a positive, harassment-free experience for everyone in our meetings, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices.

We do not tolerate harassment, abusive behavior, or intimidation of participants in any form.

We follow the Values of the University of Warwick and the AAS Code of Ethics, and outline some additional, specific guidance for this particular meeting below:

This is a space for everyone to learn and grow.

Remember, no-one is perfect, If you make a mistake, remember to apologise and learn from it. If someone says something that is incorrect, please make sure to correct them kindly, rather than berating them.
The voices and needs of the most vulnerable in any given conversation should be prioritised.

As such, please be conscious of how much space you’re taking up in a conversation. Please be extra conscious if you hold a privileged or dominant identity when discussing a form of inequality or oppression. Listen to and amplify the voices of those who have the lived experience; do not talk over them.
Disagree with ideas, not people.

Use "I" statements to speak from your personal perspective, rather than making generalizations.
Avoid playing devil’s advocate.

Specifically, do not argue for contrarian positions that you do not actually hold.

If an individual continually breaches this code of conduct, they will be barred from attending these meetings.

If you have any complaints, please contact a member of the current committee (listed bottom left).

This Code of Conduct was inspired by the Code of Conduct for the University of Michigan Astronomy Department's Equi-tea meetings.