The Oxford Health BRC has made a commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and will strive to ensure it underpins all activities.
Our EDI Strategy building on the NIHR EDI Strategy, stated we would highlight EDI exemplars of best practice and innovation.
We include below a series of articles to highlight how we are ensuring EDI considerations are integral to the design of Oxford Health BRC studies.
Microaggressions
A microaggression is a small act or remark that makes someone feel insulted or treated badly due to their race, gender, culture or belief etc. The acts or remarks may be indirect, subtle or unintentional.
A University of Edinburgh webpage dedicated to microaggressions highlights specific microaggressions. It provides details of the effects of microaggressions and ways to counteract microaggressions as both microaffirmations and microinterventions.
A Race Equality Matters LinkedIn post provides a powerful visual representation of Racial Microaggressions. It illustrates how what you perceive to be an innocent remark can be very upsetting and offensive to others.
Some departments provide training in this area and our Training team would be interested to know if this is something that we should consider as part of our BRC Training Programme (contact training.ohbrc@psych.ox.ac.uk).
Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias can affect everyone and is triggered by our brain instinctively making quick assessments and categorising people and things. These judgements or decisions are based on prior experiences, assumptions or interpretations, without us being aware of it.
Understanding and counteracting both conscious and unconscious bias can help to make everyone more inclusive in our communication, behaviour and interactions with others.
Race Equality Matters has a powerful infographic on ways in which we can all challenge and recognise our unconscious bias and practice empathy.
The Royal Society has published useful information on unconscious bias including a YouTube video explaining what unconscious bias is and how it effects us. It also explains what is being done to minimise the effect of unconscious bias in its decision-making as a funder.
The University of Oxford offers training on Implicit bias in the Workplace. More information can be found on their website.
Athena Swan Charter
The Athena Swan Charter is a framework used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. Established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment, it is now being used to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
As a University, Oxford holds a Bronze Award, with all Departments in the Medical Sciences Division holding at least a Silver Award. In Terms of the Oxford Health BRC, the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences holds a Gold Award, with Psychiatry, Experimental Psychology and Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences are all Silver Award Holders.
Considerable effort is required to gain, and retain, the awards with a five yearly scrutiny of progress against very detailed stated objectives in gender equality and inclusion. The Psychiatry Department recently had its Silver Award renewed, with the Committee noting achievements in communication, flexible working and the promotion of new senior women to both chair and professorial posts. The new five-year future plan focuses on inclusion, as well as the career development of new or emerging PIs, students, parents, minoritized groups and people outside researcher roles. There will be an emphasis on systemic gender inequalities, such as pay gaps and open-ended contracts.
BRC researchers are encouraged to make themselves familiar with their Departmental Athena Swan Action Plans which may provide guidance for addressing issues connected with gender and inclusion.
Race Equality Matters
Efforts to address racial inequality have made slow progress for decades. Recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted significant disparities, underscoring the need for new approaches.
In 2020, Green Park and The Collaboratory founded Race Equality Matters (REM), a not-for-profit community interest company. Their goal is to drive meaningful workplace change that addresses the issues faced by ethnically diverse employees. They create solutions for those championing race equality in organisations and communities in the UK and beyond.
Together, they aim to achieve positive and impactful change for race equality.
With a mission to remove barriers and provide the solutions to tackle race inequality, REM has the ambition to set up A UK-wide collaboration of thousands of organisations and millions of employees creating change to achieve Race Equality in our workplaces.
You can register to join the REM network to access free resources that have been proven to help organisations tackle race inequality here.
Talking about and tackling racism in mental health care
OH BRC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion lead Professor Kamaldeep Bhui published an op-ed piece on talking about and tackling racism in mental health care for the publication Eastern Eye. Read Professor Bhui’s piece on the Eastern Eye website.
Oxford Health BRC Workshop – Inclusive research & exclusion criteria
In March 2024, the OH BRC held a Joint EDI & Patient and Public Involvement Engagement and Participation (PPIEP) workshop in Oxford to discuss barriers to research participation, including any unintended consequences, driven by study inclusion & exclusion criteria, and ways to overcome them. Read more about speakers and topics of discussion on our News pages.
Race Equality Recognition Award 2024
Fitri Fareez Ramli, (MD, MMEDSCI Pharmacology, DPhil Psychiatry, 2021), recently won the Race Equality Recognition Award 2024 given by the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry.
Fareez is currently working with Depression Therapeutics Co-Theme Lead Prof. Philip Cowen and Dr. Beata Godlewska and his current research focuses on ebselen, a lithium-like compound, as a potential treatment for resistant depression.
Fareez received this award for his artwork, which visually represents psychiatric concepts and experiences, engaging the public with messages about mental health.
Conducting inclusive participatory research in NHS settings
Dr Roisin Mooney, Project Manager and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry outlines her thoughts on important considerations for inclusive research, based on her experience of recruiting a marginalised population to NHS research. Read Dr Mooney’s reflections on the Department of Psychiatry website.
Race-related research in the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry
The Department of Psychiatry have highlighted a selection of important race-related investigations undertaken by their staff across different themes, groups and using different methodologies for an article on race and research their website.
ORIGIN study
The ORIGIN study was set up to allow 16-24 year olds from underrepresented groups to actively co-design an online arts and culture intervention aimed at reducing anxiety and depression
The NIHR funded ORIGIN (Optimising cultural expeRIences for mental health in underrepresented younG people online) study has been funded to facilitate 16-24 year olds, particularly from underrepresented groups, to co-design an online arts and culture intervention aimed at reducing anxiety and depression.
The ORIGIN study, as part of the Mental Health in Development BRC Theme, is being led by Dr Rebecca Syed Sheriff and involves Oxford Health BRC Director, Professor John Geddes and EDI Academic Lead, Professor Kam Bhui as co-applicants.
The study will be an active collaboration of 1500 young people with NHS Trusts, UK universities, museums and charities. Importantly, and emphasizing the BRC’s EDI commitment, the study participants will include underrepresented autistic and LGBTQ+ young people, ethnic minorities, and those on NHS waiting lists for mental health support, including in some of the most deprived areas of the UK such as Cornwall, Liverpool, Sheffield and Blackpool. Active inclusion of these underrepresented individuals will ensure a relevant, and engaging, intervention is produced.
The study arose from a pilot project, O-ACE that included diverse young people from its inception. One of the grant holders of the ORIGIN study is a public co-applicant with lived experience of being autistic and having mental health issues, and with connections to Barnardo’s and Youth Futures Foundation.
EDI exemplars from our partners
University of York
The University of York is collaborating with Born in Bradford “Age of Wonder” Research Programme is a seven-year project capturing the journey through adolescence and adulthood for all teenagers in Bradford. The University works in partnership with secondary schools and young people across the district to create a detailed picture of every aspect of what it’s like to grow up in Bradford.
Born in Bradford is one of the largest and most exciting health research studies in the world; since 2007, we have been tracking the health and wellbeing of over 13,000 Bradford children from birth, and finding out why some people become ill and others do not.
University of York and the Oxford Health BRC will undertake joint consultation and data analysis using the multi-ethnic Born in Bradford and Age of Wonder cohort studies.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have created and collated several resources for researchers and participants.
The Trust has collated EDI Resources for researchers on Improving Inclusion in Research and have created a series of short recordings on how the Trust co-developed guidance for researchers to better include people with learning disabilities into research.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have produced an animation to encourage people from LGTBQ+ communities to take part in mental health research.
We also have a co-produced a Trust service evaluation with ethnic minority service users & staff using creative methods. The published paper can be viewed online.
Birmingham Women and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham
Birmingham Women and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham’s Co-Stars Project is a social action research project working with Black youth with lived experience of severe mental illness to deliver training on intersectionality and mental health inequalities to community stakeholders.
