We hosted a Queer Coffee Morning and Quiz to mark LGBTQIA+ History Month at Queen Mary. The "Big Fat Queer Quiz" made a return and we put Queen Mary staff and students' knowledge to the test with a general knowledge round, a picture round, and a name that pride flag round. A big congratulations to the winning team, Ed and the PGRs. It was such an honour to welcome students and colleagues from across the university, get to know new people, and show them the safe and inclusive spaces we've created within our School and University communities.
We awarded £15,000 in bursaries to students that self-identify as female or/and non-binary. Thanks to a generous donation from City Educational Trust, we were able to help three first year students with costs related to higher education.
Members of the EDI team had a fantastic time visiting A Level Maths students at LAE Tottenham to share their work on diversifying the maths curriculum. They were joined by Maths Ambassador Zahraa who spoke about her experience studying at Queen Mary.
Prof Claudia Garetto and a group from the EDI team visited Preston Manor School to lead a workshop on Diversifying the Maths Curriculum. It was an excellent opportunity to share our ongoing work in EDI, and for PhD student Zain to visit his former school.
Prof Claudia Garetto and PhD students Christo Morison, Adi Onus and Maria Pintado gave a lunchtime seminar at Kings College London to staff and students about their work on diversifying the maths curriculum.
Adi Onus attended the third annual PiFORUM to present the School's work on diversifying the maths curriculum to mathematicians from undergraduate to doctoral study. PiFORUM is an annual conference that shines a light on the research of early career women and non-binary people.
July was a busy month for EDI activity across the School. A number of staff and students participated in London's Pride Parade at the beginning of the month. We also hosted the second Queer and Trans Mathematicians in Combinatorics Conference as well as a non-binary mathematics seminar.
We joined in Queen Mary's Pride Month celebrations by hosting a joint Pride Coffee Morning with colleagues from the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences.
We have finalised our booklet on Diversifying the Maths Curriculum which is now available here: Diversifying the Maths Curriculum [PDF 21,288KB]
The School of Mathematical Sciences was invited by Queen Mary's central EDI team to run a Lunch and Learn session titled "LGBTQA+ Inclusion in Practice". We shared with colleagues what we have learned over the past 12 months by taking a more strategic, hands-on approach to LGBTQA+ inclusion. The session provided an overview of our activities and a framework that other Schools and Institutes can use to improve and increase the provision of services, activities and resources for their LGBTQA+ communities. The session was led by Kieran Hayde, Adam Onus and Claudia Garetto and it was a great opportunity to connect with colleagues form across the University on issues related to LGBTQA+ inclusion.
The School of Mathematical Sciences launched Levelling Up: Maths for Black Heritage Students with an in-person event. This scheme is for A-Level Maths students in year 12 or equivalent who identify as Black heritage and intend to study a course at university which lists A-Level Mathematics as a required subject. Regular online tutorials will be delivered during term time by an outstanding team of Black heritage Maths tutors who are currently studying across a wide range of Mathematics programmes at Queen Mary.
The School developed EDI subgroups to better serve the diverse needs of our community. At present, we have the following EDI subgroups:
SMS was recognised on a number of occasions for its commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion during this year's Science and Engineering Faculty Celebrations.
A number of SMS academic and research students represented the School at QMUL CAISE Launch Event. CAISE is Queen Mary's new Centre for Academic Inclusion in Science and Engineering and we presented three different projects which showcase the School's commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
To mark Black History Month, the School organised a panel discussion. We heard from members of our Black heritage community, who shared their experiences and discussed what we can all do to be effective allies.
In a bid to help diversify the teaching curriculum in the School of Mathematical Sciences, our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, Dr Claudia Garetto, organised a research project titled “Diversifying the Maths Curriculum”. During July and August, a small group of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers spent the summer researching a diverse group of Mathematicians from around the world and compiled their findings into a useful resource for educators. Find out more about the project here.
The School of Mathematical Sciences has successfully retained its Athena Swan Bronze Award in recognition of the School’s commitment to advancing gender equality. Since our last Athena Swan Bronze Award in 2016, the School has created a gender balance in its Senior Management Team, increased its number of female academic staff, and tripled the number of successful female promotions in the last five years. Through a detailed Action Plan, the School will continue its good work on key priorities, including improving the gender balance of academic staff at all seniority levels, reversing the decrease in the gender balance of UG students, improving the gender balance of PGR students, and continuing its work to create an inclusive environment.
As part of Pride Month, we organised an event called We're Queer, We're Here: An Intersection of LGBTQIA+ Identities. Kicking off with the "Big Fat Queer Quiz", we put our staff and research students' knowledge of LGBTQIA+ history and culture to the test with a queer icons picture round and series of general knowledge questions.If you missed the quiz, but want to have a go at the Queer Icons picture round, you can download it here. [PDF 841KB].
This quiz was followed by insightful and heartfelt talks and presentations from five members of our community, who shared their perspectives on topics such as sexuality, gender, inclusivity, self-censorship, queer mathematicians, and allyship.
To mark Women in Maths Day, the School of Mathematical Sciences will host an event for early career researchers, in particular those who identify as female and/or non-binary. The event will consist of a research talk by Professor Ginestra Bianconi titled "A path in Mathematics" followed by a panel discussion and refreshments.
Date: 12th MayTime: 11:00Location: 5th floor Seminar Room
For further information on the event, please contact our EDI Lead Dr Claudia Garetto.
To create a safer, more supportive and inclusive working culture for our postgraduate research community, we Active Bystander training sessions in early May. PhD students attended sessions dedicated to developing the skills to challenge unacceptable antisocial behaviours, including those which may have become normalised over time.
The School of Mathematics hosted a Girls in Maths taster day on 21st April 2022. As part of our ongoing work to encourage more self-identifying female and/or non-binary to study maths at University, the event was a great success. Participants attended two taster lectures, followed by transitioning to university and careers talks, lunch and campus tours. We enjoyed some really interesting discussions around what it means to be a female mathematician in a male-dominated field and participants left with a good overview of what it would be like to study mathematics at Queen Mary. Attendees told us that they were grateful for such an event as it created a safe and supportive space for girls to ask questions that they might not feel comfortable asking in their classrooms at school.
To celebrate International Women's Day, the School of Mathematical Sciences organised a Women in Maths Event. Dr Claudia Garetto delivered a talk titled The Mathematical Journey of Emmy Noether and Mary Somerville, which explored the stories of two female mathematicians and the challenges they overcame in their personal and professional lives. As one of our first in-person events since the start of the pandemic, the event was well attended by staff and students from the School and beyond, and attendees enjoyed a reception in the Graduate Centre.
To celebrate LGBTQIA+ Month at Queen Mary, the Faculty of Science and Engineering is hosting a seminar "LGBTQA+ in Nature" on Monday 21 February from 12:30 to 13:45. Throughout the history of the LGBTQA+ community, a common attack has been that "it's not natural" to be lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, asexual or other. This informal lunchtime seminar will debunk the myth of "unnatural" sexuality by looking at a wide range of examples of LGBTQA+ taken from the natural world. Please use this Teams link to join the seminar.
The School of Mathematical Sciences appointed a new EDI Lead, Dr Claudia Garetto. We published a short interview with Claudia, discussing her plans for EDI within the School of Mathematical Sciences and you can read it here.
Staff and students across Queen Mary University of London celebrated the work of historical and contemporary Black contributors by sharing their nominations for our "People Profile Series" as part of Black History Month. Our colleagues Alex Clark and Weini Huang contributed to the initiative here.
Our fully online "Girls in Maths" taster event took place. Speakers included Dr Silvia Liverani and Gaik Ng.
We have been awarded a small grant from the London Mathematical Society to run "Girls in Mathematics", a one-day event aimed at female pupils. The event took place on 4 March and included a talk by Gaik Ng (Senior Lecturer in Actuarial Science) and Natalia Behague (PhD graduate).
Today we launched the new structure of the EDI committee. More details available here.
Today we hosted the Women in Mathematics one-day workshop, partly funded by the London Mathematical Society. It was a great success, with excellent speakers and over 70 attendees. Pictures and more details on the event are available here.
Today we launched the Women’s Lunches, a new monthly get-together for all female members of staff and PhD students in the School. Women bring their own lunch and the School provides hot drinks, fruit and biscuits.