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The leadership of the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences (SPCLS) are committed to creating a working environment where all staff and students have the chance to fulfil their full potential.

"As a School, we face different challenges than are typically found in other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

"We are nonetheless committed to ensuring equality and inclusivity for all people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act (race, disability, age, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, sex, sexual orientation, religion/belief, pregnancy and maternity), as well as unprotected characteristics (e.g. socio-economic class, obesity).

"Our commitment to equality and diversity is based partly on a strong sense of fairness, and a belief that people do best when they bring all of themselves to work. But it is also based on the knowledge that diverse institutions are more successful because they draw on the best from a wider range of people.

"It is therefore important that the culture within the School is such that everyone can operate in the knowledge that they are respected for who they are. This is key to fostering good physical and mental wellbeing.

"As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, we have sought feedback on what we are doing well and where we can improve. We have used this feedback to make changes that promote better equality and diversity.

"Examples of this include developing a School policy for Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave which is widely available. This sets out not only what we do to help caregivers to maintain their careers, but also demonstrates how we ensure that this is not at the expense of adding work to other staff.

"We have created an unconscious bias training programme for the University and have mandated that all staff who are conducting interviews should have this training. This is to support equality of opportunity in recruitment and when supporting promotion cases. These practices are of benefit to all, and do not seek to target specific demographics.

"Please contact me for any further information and advice on equality and diversity in the School."

Professor Patricia Riddell

Athena SWAN Silver award

The School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences was awarded an Athena SWAN Silver award in 2021, in recognition of its good employment practices in relation to women working in science, engineering and technology (SET).

Find out more about our Athena SWAN silver award

Stonewall Diversity Champion

The University is a Stonewall Diversity Champion and is a 2020 Stonewall Top 100 Employer

Our committee

Find out more about our Equality and Diversity Committee, their mission and their terms of reference.

Flexible working

We're enthusiastic about flexible working and keen to consider flexible working requests from our staff. 

Parental leave

Information for staff who are about to take maternity, parental, shared parental, childbirth or adoption leave.

Policies and useful links

Read more about how our School and University support staff health and wellbeing.
Athena SWAN Silver Award