Executive Summary
The Development, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee was established in Oct. 2014 as part of an ICRAR-wide initiative to foster matters related to equality, inclusion and development.
DEI’s objective is to
- continually review current practices at ICRAR-UWA
- identify areas of improvement
- design targeted initiatives
- monitor the progress of these initiatives using KPIs.
The DEI committee is also responsible for promoting ICRAR’s inclusive work environment and reporting to the ICRAR exec.
The DEI committee is currently composed of ten women and men of all levels of seniority, as well as academic and professional staff. The committee is running ten initiatives. An example for an initiative is the organisation of several (4-5 in 2017) seminars and workshops supporting women in building research careers. Another example is the training and advertising of so-called DEI Wards, a group of five ICRAR-UWA members, who can be contacted confidentially to report any instances of perceived inequality or misconduct at the workplace. The full list of initiatives is compiled in the DEI plan, available directly from the committee.
As a result of the DEI’s efforts to advance women in astronomy, ICRAR-UWA was awarded the Pleiades Bronze award of the ASA in 2015, the Pleiades Silver award in 2017 and the Pleiades Gold award in 2019 and 2021.