Open call to participate in EDI Working Group
The Royal Meteorological Society is fully committed to ensuring an inclusive and accessible place for all our members and that we play our role in building a more equitable and inclusive world. Diversity and Inclusion is a cross-cutting priority in the RMetS Strategic Plan 2021-2023. We aim to "lead by example and encourage the meteorological community to be both diverse and inclusive, making the best use of the talent that exists in all parts of society to provide access to the world of science, technology and the profession of meteorology for all."
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has been a focus of the Society for several years, and we have seen progress in terms of gender equality in our activities and our Awards. As a small Society, it has been a challenge for us to devote as much continuous attention to this priority as we would like. However, we have reviewed many of our governance processes for inclusion and launched a modernised and more inclusive Awards scheme in 2022.
To help move us forward, we are now setting up an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, facilitated by Ellie Highwood (former President and now diversity and inclusion specialist). This group will help identify priority opportunities across RMetS to embed more inclusive ways of working and identify any barriers to participation and engagement. We anticipate this group will meet (virtually) every two months from September 2022, and we are now seeking volunteers (all our committees run on a volunteer basis) to be part of this group for the next 12 months.
We want this group to represent all backgrounds, including those with lived experience of barriers or enabling actions for particular groups and those with experience working with or on EDI initiatives in other organisations. Prior experience on a committee or working group is not essential. We want to hear from people who share our values and passion for driving change and can bring forward their ideas.
If you’d like to express interest in being involved, please complete the google form, or if you have any questions, please email Ellie Highwood at ellie@equasense.co.uk.
If you don’t want to join the group but think you have ideas we should consider, please get in touch with your thoughts. We will treat emails confidentially unless you say otherwise.