Rachel is an experienced EDI practitioner and leader who has been Head of EDI at Durham University for the last 4 years. At Durham Rachel works alongside the Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost and Deputy Provost to design, review and implement the University's EDI Policy and Strategy and is responsible for operational delivery of EDI initiatives at an institutional level.
Rachel has extensive experience in driving culture change and workplace change-management, holding postgraduate qualifications in Law and Accessible Environments. She started her career within the legal and voluntary sector, where she led a number of community-based projects to support engagement and cohesion. Following this she worked as Senior Advisor on equality legislation and practice within the public sector, leading work to implement the Equality Framework for Local Government and Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.
Rachel has delivered a number of high-prolife public and higher education sector projects and was the Project Lead for the Northern Power Inclusion Matters research project, which aims to shape an actively inclusive culture in the Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) community in the North of England. Throughout her career she has been involved in a number of projects to help inform sector working with the EHRC and most recently the OFS leading a programme to tackle religious based hate crime and harassment. She is also an Athena Swan panel Chair.