Supporting Neuroinclusion in the Chemical Sciences

Event details

Overview

The Department of Chemistry at the University of York invites you to join us for our Annual EDI Beacon Symposium for 2025. This year the symposium will bring together a range of individuals with interests in the development and implementation of neuroinclusive practice in the chemical sciences. This includes both academia and industry and activities with teaching and research focuses, in addition to professional support services.

Background

Neurodiversity in the chemical community brings together different perspectives, different skills and ways of thinking and ultimately underpins excellence in our discipline. Neurodivergent conditions include autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, Tourette’s syndrome and others. Neurodivergence can be regarded as a disability and so neurodivergent individuals should be able to expect reasonable adjustments where they work or study, where required. However, moving beyond reasonable adjustments and proactively providing a neuroinclusive environment can be beneficial to all staff and students in academic and industrial settings. This symposium will bring together best practice in the field and look for areas where future research and action are needed to support neuroinclusion in the chemical sciences.

Symposium details and call for abstracts:

The symposium will run in hybrid format, at York and online over Zoom and will include invited and contributed talks, alongside a poster session.

Posters and talks on any aspect of neuroinclusion in chemistry are welcome. We expect contributed talks to be around 15 minutes long, with 5 minutes for questions. A0 (portrait orientation) poster boards will be available for posters. Optional flash presentation slots for poster presenters will be included in the programme for those wishing to give an overview of their poster.

Abstracts for contributed talks and posters should be submitted using the abstract submission and registration form (deadlines below). Oral presentations will be selected from the submitted abstracts and speakers informed by 22nd August. We anticipate being able to accommodate all poster abstracts that are appropriate for the symposium theme.

Attendance is free, but we ask attendees to register using this registration form, or the book tickets button above, so that we have numbers for catering and planning.

Good to know

Location - The University is located just outside York city centre, to the South East of the city. The Department of Chemistry is located in buildings just off Innovation Way. A campus map can be found at this link.

Getting here - You can find information on how to get to the University at this link.

Car parking - You can find information on car parking on campus at this link.

Accessibility - The symposium will take place in Chemistry room C/A101 and accessibility information can be found at this AccessAble link. There is a hearing assistance system for the lecture theatre. We aim to provide text captioning for talks. Lunch and posters will be in nearby rooms on the same floor with accessible, all-gender toilets nearby. A quiet room will be available for delegates during the meeting. A quiet poster viewing session will also be available during the day. For any other accessibility requirements please contact john.slattery@york.ac.uk.

Deadlines

• Oral abstract deadline - 15th August 2025 [now closed]
• Poster abstract deadline - 3rd September 2025 [now closed]
• Registration deadline - 3rd September 2025

About the speakers

Morning session:

• Professor Kiran Trehan (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement) and Dr Derek Wann (Head of Department, Chemistry) "Welcome and introduction"
• Dr Ilaria Meazzini, Senior Programme Manager, Inclusion & Diversity, Royal Society of Chemistry. “Making chemistry accessible for all: an update on RSC’s latest research”
• Dr Vijesh Bhute, Imperial College London
  "Neurodiversity in Focus-Listening, Learning, and Designing for Inclusion"
• Dr Kevin Morgan, Queen's University Belfast (Online talk)
  “Use of Universal Design for Learning to Support Neurodivergent Learners in STEM”
• Flash poster presentations (poster presenters TBC)

Afternoon session:

• Dr David Pugh, Department of Chemistry, University of York.
  “Considering neurodiversity in taught laboratory environments”
• Michael Hughes, University of Manchester
  “Badges, Belonging and the Bench: Rethinking Neuroinclusion without labels in the Chemical Sciences”
• Dr Clare Stevenson, John Innes Centre, UK (Online talk). “A BBSRC funded connecting culture project to Understand, Value and Celebrate Neurodiversity”
• Claire Toogood, The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and Lucie Stanworth, The University of York. “Careers in the Chemical Sciences: Capturing the Career Journeys of Neurodivergent Students”

Panel and audience discussion:

• “Actions to implement now and future work needed to support neuroinclusion in the chemical sciences”
  Panel: Charlie Morris, University of Durham, Dr Ilaria Meazzini, Royal Society of Chemistry, Jenny Glynn, University of York, Professor Kathryn Cowtan, University of York, Dr Theo Tanner University of Oxford.
  Panel chair: Dr Leonie Jones, University of York

Link to full programme (draft)