As part of our blog series focusing on projects funded by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fund (EDIF), I spoke to Dr Laura Delgaty about the project she got funding for: Creating an Equality and Diversity Calendar.

The aim of the calendar is to help keep staff and students up to date and informed about any upcoming EDI events they may wish to attend or participate in. It has been made easily accessible through the University Intranet (it can be found here).

The project received £1,500 from the EDIF, to cover costs such as a focus group, to determine what people wanted from the calendar, and IT support, to have the calendar professionally developed. They also employ an intern, who is responsible for ensuring relevant events are added to the calendar across the year.

Laura hopes that the calendar will “promote and celebrate equality and diversity in the region”, and encourage staff and students across the University to engage more widely with EDI issues.

Laura also highlighted the importance of the calendar for innovation within the University: “this calendar is an example of staff innovation in action, potentially generating further innovation within the staff and student body, a core academic objective outlined in the E&D strategy”.

To see the new calendar and check out upcoming EDI events, please click here.

Or, if you’re a student or a member of staff at Newcastle University and you think you’ve got a great idea for a project to promote engagement with the EDI agenda at the University, click here to find out more about EDIF, or email us at FMS.Diversity@ncl.ac.uk