Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee

David Richardson is the Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Bacterial Biochemistry at the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the Norwich Research Park.  He joined UEA in 1991, and held positions of Executive Dean Faculty of Science, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor before being appointed as Vice-Chancellor in 2014. 

He has served on a number of Boards, including as a Non-Executive Director of the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Board and as President of the AURORA European University Network. David is currently chair of the Universities UK Advisory Group to tackle racial harassment in higher education and he was a member of the UUK Taskforce that authored the ‘Changing the Culture’ report that provided recommendations for a whole institution approach to tackling violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students. He is also co-chair of the Advance HE Race Equality Charter Governance Committee.

David’s research has been recognised through a number of awards, including the Microbiology Society Fleming Medal and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellowship. He also holds an Honorary Chair at the University of Queensland.

After graduating with a Law degree from Oxford University, Chantal Davies qualified as a solicitor with Eversheds in Cardiff specialising in Employment, Human Rights and Discrimination Law. In 1998, she moved to work as a solicitor for the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in Manchester heading up a Department tackling strategic and wider enforcement of the gender equality legislation. Chantal is now professor of Law, Equality and Diversity in the School of Law at the University of Chester. She has also developed and is Director of the Forum for Research into Equality and Diversity. Past research focuses on the experiences of minority ethnic students within HE and the use of positive action by organisations in the UK. Chantal has also completed a funded project looking at the gendered obstacles to research activity faced by academics in the UK. More recently Chantal has been funded by the Young Women’s Trust and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to research the use of positive action in apprenticeships. Chantal has also worked with the Higher Education Authority in Ireland to roll out a ground breaking positive action initiative aimed at increasing female representation within professorships. She has sat on the board of Cheshire Halton and Warrington Race and Equality Centre and the Equality Challenge Unit and in this latter role worked with them to develop institutional confidence in developing positive action initiatives within higher education. Chantal currently sits on the Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Commission and also on the Law Society’s Women’s Law Division Committee.

Annette works as a Senior Research Delivery Support Partner at Coventry University.  She completed her first Degree in Social Studies at the University of Warwick and later completed her Masters Degree in Leadership and Management at Coventry University.  She is also an alumni of Advance HE’s Diversifying Leadership Programme.

Annette has over 30 years of activism around equity, diversity and inclusion, which she has maintained throughout her working career in Higher Education and is a passionate and strategic advocate for the role and importance of institutional leadership in tackling racial inequalities and embedding anti-racist practices.  She has a substantive role supporting, developing and implementing a number of strategic and operational initiatives and actions at her institution.

Annette is an accomplished manager and leader and has a principle role in Coventry University’s drive towards extending and building on strategic and purposeful relationships and collaborations on a local, national and global scale.  She is recognised for her strategic influence and input on policy, practice and external engagements and is keen to extend her international networks and relations.

Annette is a member of several Boards and Committees including, Coventry University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Council, including Chair of the Equity Acceleration Group and Race Equality Council.  She is currently the first and only international Board member of the esteemed American based ‘National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education’ (NADOHE), which is the leading voice for Senior Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officers.  She is one of the founding members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group for the Association of Research Management and Administration (ARMA), a member of the Women in Higher Education Network (WHEN) and an alumni of the International focussed leadership Common Purpose programme.

Professor Osama Khan is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic, at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. He is the strategic lead for the University's education agenda providing talented and motivated students from all backgrounds with an outstanding education that is inclusive, research-informed, technologically enhanced and professionally enriched with industry partnerships. He holds a Professor in Practice title at the Surrey Business School. He also manages the University's centre of excellence in education: The Surrey Institute of Education, as well as the Library and Learning Services. Currently, he has been leading on the Hybrid Education model at the University as a strategic response to the Covid19 pandemic and driving digital transformation in education and student experience. He is a member of Council, Chair of UEC and serves on the board of Farnborough College of Technology, the TEF Advisory Group, Student Minds Advisory Group, Prevent and the EM3 Skills Advisory Panel.

Osama has 23 years of experience in teaching corporate finance, derivatives, mathematical economics, real estate finance and economics and investment management in various universities including the University of Surrey, University of Cambridge, University of Hong Kong, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Copenhagen Business School and HEC Paris.

Aloma Onyemah has over 14 years’ experience leading the development and implementation of diversity change programmes which span workforce and student diversity, ensuring that EDI priorities are central both to workplace culture and service delivery.

Aloma was previously Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at University College London (UCL) and prior to this, Head of EDI at University Hospitals Leicester where she was responsible for designing and delivering EDI programmes affecting 1.4m patients and nearly 20,000 staff.

Before she worked in the NHS, Aloma was Head of EDI at Sheffield Hallam University, where she was responsible for programmes that produced significant diversification of both staff and student bodies, and of senior leadership.

Aloma has advised on key policy development across the HE sector including the ‘Mind the Gap’ framework to improve the BAME student experience and outcomes, the application of the Equality Duty to programme design and development which informed the national QAA Code, advancing race equality through positive action and developed an inclusive decision-making framework (IDMF) to remove the barriers to inclusive decision making.

Pradeep is at Salford University as Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion). He chairs the university’s EDI Taskforce and is also Director of the Global Race Centre for Equality, focussing on trans-disciplinary research in relation to racial inequalities. Pradeep has also had extensive experience both as a panel member and chairing race equality charter panels. His research and professional interests lie in organisational approaches to creating change through inclusive approaches, drawing on his extensive experience in working across the public sector to enhance approaches in the advancement of inclusion. Pradeep also has research interests relating to awarding gaps and is a founding member of the North West Awards Gap Group. 

Professor Randall Whittaker is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Academic at Leeds Arts University where he has strategic responsibility for academic, international and research development.

Born in South Africa, he studied music and his professional career was launched after being awarded the Charles Brayrs Prestige Scholarship on four separate occasions. He was appointed as a lecturer at the Konservatorium of the University of Stellenbosch in 2001, before relocating to Europe.

He has extensive experience in the strategic development of specialist creative institutions. He has a strong interest in Higher Education policy development and frequently writes and delivers talks on the topic.

Parveen Yaqoob is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Reading. She is a Professor of Nutritional Physiology, manages an active research team and serves on a number of research funding panels.

As well as being a member of the EDI Committee, Parveen is also the Chair of the Athena Swan Governance Committee.