Equality and diversity

We value diversity and promote equality of opportunity for all, both in our employment practices and admissions decisions, and in our teaching, learning and research activities.

Our commitment to equality and diversity

We are committed to ensuring that:

we create a positive, inclusive environment, free from prejudice, bullying, harassment and unlawful discrimination. We will take action to challenge inappropriate behaviour and discriminatory practice
staff, students, applicants for employment or study, visitors and other persons in contact with Royal Holloway are treated fairly, with dignity and respect
people and diverse groups with multiple identities and individual differences are recognised and valued
we provide our staff and associates with the knowledge and skills they need to understand and meet their equality and diversity responsibilities.

Our responsibilities under The Equality Act 2010

As a public body and a charity, we have a general duty to:

eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
advance equality of opportunity between people who do and do not share a protected characteristic (protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex, and sexual orientation)
foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share a protected characteristic.

We must meet this general duty both as an employer and as a provider of public services, showing ‘due regard’ across all of our functions.

How we’re meeting our responsibilities

At Royal Holloway, we want to establish a diverse community where everyone succeeds, is included, and feels that they belong. We have drafted a comprehensive plan, our EDI Framework 2023-2028, that will help us on our journey to achieve our ambition and see real progress and sustainable impact. Our framework is based on a comprehensive analysis of data and has emerged following a wide range of conversations in all our EDI spaces with colleagues from our networks, departments and services across the University. This piece of work is intended to recognise and encompasses all of the many challenges we need to address. It articulates our priorities and outlines how we will monitor progress and measure impact.

The Framework includes a set of EDI Guiding Principles which have formed through formal and informal discussions with colleagues and students. These principles are intended to set our foundation for conduct and culture and describe what we, as a community, feel is important in our approach to equality.

View our EDI Framework 2023-2028 as a PDF

View our EDI Framework 2023-28 as a Word document