Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2024: The future is now: Building EDI practice for the changing world of HE

Overview

The AHE EDI Conference 2024 will provide space to rethink and refresh our approaches to equality, diversity and inclusion, share our successes, and contribute to a collective discussion about how we are shaping the future of EDI in higher education across the globe by thinking about what we are doing and need to embed in our practice now.

Constant change is a reality of higher education, and our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion needs to keep pace with this change. Evolving new practice to tackle emerging issues, continuing to create innovative solutions to perennial problems, anticipating developments that will affect the nature of our student and staff communities is our constant goal.

The challenges facing HE are varied and complex, and no single approach to tackling them will suit the diversity of institutions in the sector. Curiosity about the wide range of thinking and practice that might inform our approaches, openness to listening to others (other institutions, other countries, other sectors), an engagement with what we learn from marginalised voices and experiences, and collaboration with EDI practitioners from across HE are the tools that will equip us to craft EDI solutions that are relevant, effective and sustainable.

Conference Outcomes

With a focus on exploring these questions, this conference offers:

• An opportunity to think deeply and creatively about how we can build our learning on equity, diversity and inclusion to draw on the widest range of thinking and practice, including marginalised voices, new ways of learning, and learning from outside of higher education.
• A chance to share what we are doing to disrupt traditional understanding of scholarship and scholars/expertise and experts, and to challenge structures and processes that limit career opportunities.
• A platform to share new ideas that will stimulate our thinking about equity, diversity and inclusion – inviting people to share our insights, as well as learning from those who do likewise.

About the conference

The conference will run across two days with an optional evening dinner and entertainment on the evening of the 6 March. Delegates can attend the full conference or choose the one day that resonates most with their work, experiences or requirements.