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Race & Ethnicity

Staff and students in Chemistry come from a range of different backgrounds and countries and we thrive as a result of our diverse community. As a Department, Chemistry is committed to ensuring that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff and students from all backgrounds feel welcome and supported during their time at York. The Chemistry Equality and Diversity Group remit covers all protected characteristics including ethnicity and race and our most recent Athena SWAN Gold action plan includes a range of actions to support BAME staff and students.

The University of York’s Staff Race Equality Forum is Chaired by Dr Avtar Matharu, who is Deputy Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence here in the Department. If you wish to get involved, please contact Avtar (avtar.matharu@york.ac.uk) or complete this form.

Sources of Information

• The University of York’s Staff Race Equality Forum, Staff listening exercise
• YUSU’s BAME Officers: https://www.yusu.org/your-voice/officers/part-time/bame / bme@yusu.org
• YUSU support A-Z Assault & Hate crime, Dignity at work and study
• York Racial Equality Network 
• BBSTEM - National Network for Black British Professionals in STEM

Decolonising and Diversifying our Curriculum

At the beginning of 2020, we set up a steering group to coordinate work on decolonising and diversifying our curriculum. The group is comprised of Chemistry staff and students with a particular interest in diversity and inclusive teaching.

Professor Caroline Dessent, Chair of the Chemistry Equality & Diversity Group (EDG) wrote an article for the Department’s Chemistry Update online newsletter explaining why EDG is trying to decolonise its undergraduate curriculum and what diversification might mean for us. Decolonising our undergraduate curriculum (PDF , 237kb)

For more information or to get involved, please contact caroline.dessent@york.ac.uk or leonie.jones@york.ac.uk

Black Lives Matter Reading List

The Library and Archives have created a fantastic resource. Their Your Library, Your Voice platform includes a growing range of reading lists on equality and diversity themes, the first of which focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement (and related issues of racism and decolonising education).

Q&A with Angela Saini - Racism in Science & Academia

A virtual event was co-hosted by the University of Leeds and Chemistry@York in July 2020. Angela’s latest book, ‘Superior: The Return of Race Science’ is now available to borrow physically and electronically from the University of York Library (staff and students only).