Equality & diversity - Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

The Aura CDT recognises that the provision of equal opportunity, valuing diversity and promoting a culture of inclusion is vital to our success. We know that when people come together with different views, approaches and insights it can lead to richer, more creative and innovative teaching and research and the highest level of student experience.

All four partner universities are fully committed to the principles of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in their practices, activities and policies. Our collective vision is to build a community that actively attracts, engages and develops talented individuals from many different backgrounds. We will strive to remove bias in our talent attraction, selection, development, progression and other management practices to ensure that we create a truly inclusive environment.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all, giving every individual the chance to achieve their full potential, free from prejudice and discrimination. We will foster good relations between people with different characteristics – age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. We recognise that everyone has a role to play in embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in all elements of working, learning, research and teaching. To support this open and positive culture, we will provide training for all participants in the Aura CDT.

Our commitment to attracting a diverse mix of candidates to the programme is reflected in our recruitment process. As part of our inclusive practices, the Aura CDT adopts a process of double-blind sifting of applications where the applicant skills and attributes are assessed independently of personal details. To facilitate this, we ask applicants to ‘blind’ their application using a downloadable form ahead of submission.

The universities are active participants in the Advance HE’s Athena SWAN and Race Equality Charters, which require positive equality and inclusion behaviours. We are also Disability Confident employers and have a number of initiatives to support students with additional needs, as well as following family-friendly employment practices designed to enable a good work-life balance. We are also Stonewall Diversity Champions and play an active role in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities supporting local and regional activities.