Part of the Race Equality Matters campaign, ‘The Big Promise’ is a commitment to action which individuals or organisations will be held accountable to in order to create positive change for students and staff.

Watch the full video here.

The University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Rebecca Bunting, alongside Professor Andrew Church (Pro Vice Chancellor), Sue Shutter (Director of People & Culture) and Dr Mohammad Alramahi (Co-Chair of the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team) sat down with Carly Ramirez-Herelle, Vice-Chair of the University’s Race Equality Network, to discuss their ‘Big Promises’, which are:

1. To publish annual ethnicity pay gap data, set targets and set an action plan to meet them
2. To actively sponsor minority ethnic talent in our workplace
3. To develop a scheme where minority ethnic senior staff can mentor and provide reverse mentoring
4. To improve our incident reporting system for students and staff who experience racism with published and clear consequences for those who do not adhere
5. To achieve Race Equality Charter Bronze status and, in our application, set out the University’s targets for tackling race inequality and racism that will benefit students and staff.

Explaining why the University decided to get involved with this commitment for Race Equality Week, Professor Bunting said: “We are pleased to make these five Big Promises as, collectively, they will deliver some of the cultural change in the University needed to tackle racism and deliver our ambitious objectives for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.”

Alongside getting involved in ‘The Big Promise’, the University has been sharing a number of resources with students and staff throughout Race Equality Week, including encouraging them to take part in the 5-Day Challenge activities tackling topics such as microaggressions and celebrating different cultures.