The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion SIG was established in September 2020 at the Faculty’s anti-racism event. The group is chaired by Justin Varney, with Denise Blair serving as the Vice-Chair. The Chair and Vice Chair can be reached at EDSIG@fph.org.uk. The SIG reports to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
The SIG aims to ensure fairness and diversity in recruitment to the training scheme in the belief that a diverse workforce is a better workforce.
Membership
We welcome any members who are interested in equality, diversity and inclusion or simply want to gain a better understanding of the issues.
FPH members can join this SIG by logging into their FPH members’ portal account, selecting the ‘Committees/SIGs’ button and choosing the correct SIG. You will then be asked to provide a few details, following which your application will be automatically approved. Further details on FPH membership are available here.
Current workstreams
We are currently working across four workstreams:
Leaky Pipeline
This workstream uses the ‘leaky pipeline’ model to understand barriers to recruitment, retention and progression in the UK Public Health Training Scheme, particularly in regard to under and over-representation of different ethnicities amongst registrars and consultants. We are looking for someone with available time and leadership to progress this workstream.
Recruitment Data
Imperial College are leading a national project to look at equality and diversity dimensions of the national recruitment process for public health specialty training. This workstream aims to analyse recruitment data to better understand this issue. We are currently looking for a registrar to undertake this work under an educational supervisor - we apologise that this particular opportunity is not available to those outside the training programme.
Mentoring Programme
This workstream is a national mentoring scheme prioritising early-career ethnic minority registrars within public health. A logic model and basic design has been completed and work is ongoing for recruitment of mentors. We are now looking for: a small group to lead, scope, manage and evaluate the programme; individuals interested in being mentors; and individuals interested in being mentored.
Learning Bites
This workstream develops a programme of regular learning slots (for example remote lunchtime talks) for sharing knowledge, experience, expertise and best practice as relevant to different diversity characteristics. Unlike other workstream areas, which are focusing on racial justice as the SIG’s immediate priority, these bites encompass a range of different areas. We are looking for a small group to lead, scope, manage and evaluate the programme and individuals (or small groups) interested in volunteering to speak.
