The TransFIRe Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) programme exists to inform and support adoption of best practice for EDI within the UK foundation industries and beyond. We believe EDI to be requisite to embed the new learning, behaviours, process, and innovation required for industry transformation for a sustainable future and to achieve the net zero 2050 goals.
Our goal is to establish foundations and leadership for EDI within the foundation industries to create and sustain this industry transformation.
EDI Challenges in the foundation industries
It is becoming increasingly apparent and widely accepted that equity, diversity and inclusion are of paramount importance in the success of any organisation or project. Yet the foundation industries face a specific set of EDI challenges. Research by UKRI has highlighted
• Lacking representation, particularly of women and younger people
• An aging workforce and loss of skills lost through retirement
• Challenge keeping pace with evolving skillsets particularly for digitization and new technologies
• Developing the talent pipeline poses challenges especially for small businesses.
• Bespoke, sector specific training is lacking. Engagement with higher education on curriculum is needed.
• No research has yet been conducted beyond gender and age, so little is known about the representation and inclusion of diverse identities more broadly
• Lacking business case specific to EDI for the foundation industries
• Sector image and culture are not attractive to new entrants
EDI Playbook
The EDI Playbook is continually growing set of resources and case studies to support organisations within the foundation industries to increase EDI in their teams
Equity Edge Podcast
The Equity Edge Podcast is all about shaping tomorrow’s foundation industries, with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and how it can help us achieve a sustainable and fairer future
Our EDI Strategy
Our EDI strategy has been developed in response to these challenges. We consider all aspects of diversity within the TransFIRe project including, but not limited to, race/ethnicity, gender, social class, disability, and sexual orientation.
We have developed a strategic action plan that will:
• Establish self-sustaining industry practices regarding EDI and a forum to drive strategic leadership, to develop and share best practice.
• Identify gaps in knowledge and build a body of research of equity, diversity and inclusion in the foundation industries.
• Align the EDI agenda to Net Zero, future skills, digitisation and innovation goals to paint a compelling, holistic future vision and business case for EDI in the foundation industries.
• Establish structures and build capabilities to attract, retain and progress diverse talent across each of the foundation industries.
To help us to deliver on these goals, EDI is represented throughout TransFIRe’s Governance structure.
Blog
Mike Thakoordin
Hi there, I’m Mike, and I work as both as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with Durham University on the TransFIRe project and as a freelance consultant. I am a professional engineer who has gone [...]
Prof Sue Black
My name is Sue Black, I’m a Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University and leading on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for the TransFIRe project. [...]