Diversity UK celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Equality charity Diversity UK is today celebrating its tenth anniversary, marking a decade of championing diversity and inclusion in Britain’s workplaces. Set-up to educate the public about diversity and inclusion, Diversity UK has achieved significant milestones in its journey; it launched the flagship ‘Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Representation in Public Appointments’ research report in 2013 that quickly led to an adjournment debate in the House of Commons and engagement with government departments on the subject. Since then, there have been a number of Public Reviews that the charity has participated in and it has disseminated information from consultations on gender pay reporting, diversity action plans and other DE&I initiatives to its growing member base of ethnic minority professionals.
Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK said; “It seems surreal that a decade has passed since Diversity UK launched. In that time, visitors to our website have grown from a mere 649 people to over 80,000 per year; we have supported 150 events hosted by partners and organised 35 events of our own, focussing on everything from ‘Getting Board Ready’ to ‘Unconscious Bias’, ‘Millennials & the Media’ & ‘Women in Science’ and we have championed ethnic minority individuals to the highest reaches of the public sector and government.”
“Perhaps the three strands of activity that I am proudest to have initiated are the annual Paul Stephenson race equality lecture, named after the British civil rights campaigner Dr Paul Stephenson OBE, who inaugurated the first lecture; the Asians in Tech initiative that has showcased Asian entrepreneurs in the technology and digital sectors with its continuing focus on ‘Investing in Women Founders’ with women dominating the list for the past two years and the Diversity Tech Summit, the second of which was held earlier this month.”
The Asians in Tech initiative, which is now in its eighth year, is a platform that celebrates and showcases the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech, the definitive list of Asians working in the digital and technology sectors in Britain. The aim of the list is to showcase diverse talent; from startup founders, technologists, venture capitalists and investors; to the game changers and digital influencers in business and social enterprise. It has also recognised 91 Asian Tech Pioneers who are leaders in their field and has organised four tech showcases in London and Manchester to enable young start-up founders to pitch for funding and support. The power of the Asians in Tech initiative in supporting the sector, and Diversity UK's contribution to improving equality and inclusion in Britain, were recognised at a welcome ceremony hosted by the London Stock Exchange in 2018 when more than a hundred Diversity UK members opened trading for the day.
The pandemic impacted the charity significantly in 2020, forcing it to refine its purpose to focus on race equality and the intersectionality of race and ethnicity with other protected characteristics. “In 2021, we launched a series of informal roundtable discussions under the ‘Let’s Talk…’ umbrella and focused on talking about ‘labels’ to define race and ethnicity and ‘neurodiversity’ as a superpower. There is no shortage of ideas that Diversity UK Trustees and members want to explore”, added Lopa, “we look forward to the next ten years, with hopefully greater equity having been reached by then in all sectors.”
