Category: People, Place and Work

Impact of AI on EDI practice

If you search for ‘impact of AI on EDI’, you mostly get returns discussing Electronic Data Interchange. But with a few tweaks we can find a growing corpus of information.

We can use AI to speed up  some of our EDI tasks, But there are big risks if we don’t actually know what we are doing.

EDI policies available from universities are all fairly similar, so a quick query to ELM (or similar LLM) will move you forward fast, although it may cite the wrong law. ELM can very quickly produce a workplace menopause policy, for instance. HR colleagues may fear for their jobs.  However constant vigilance is needed.  I particularly notice that AI will reference ‘The Equalities Act’  which is incorrect, there are not many equalities, just Equality. Equality Act 2010

That said, the law is also not keeping up with AI

In the recent Fife NHS Employment Tribunal, there has been concern that one or other of the judges involved was relying on AI misinformation Judge Kemp denies use of AI in Peggie judgment | Scottish Legal News.  The ruling had to be corrected several times and an appeal is planned.

It may be tempting to use AI to understand organisational data, but it seems likely that the result will be as biased as the historic data that you use. If we have not in the past gathered data about our particular demographics, the data will not be there for the models to learn.

It may even re-write history. Despite we know about holocaust deniers and historical revisionists, our new race awareness trainings for staff and students does not even touch on concerns about how people may learn abut history from AI .

Similarly, our consent training and sexual harassment training make no reference to online harms or consent of images. Deepfakes, revenge porn and image abuse are facilitated by AI. There is no reason to think that the people in the University of Edinburgh population are different from all others. The adding of image creation functionality to ELM has been a particular area of concern for me. Just because other tools do it, doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to outweigh the risks.

How are we helping our students to recognise fake images? Do our ‘report and support’ systems include support for detection?

Our students and staff are just as likely as any to put themselves in risky situations of scams and fakers. How are we teaching them to be safe, what does ‘safe spaces’  and ‘active bystander’ even mean in this new era?

In organisations such as ours, where concerns are consistently raised about unconscious bias, it is naive to think that this problem has been ‘fixed’.  The AI will amplify the biases of those who use it, and may be a dangerous tool in the hands of management ( including human resource management).

The demographics of people who work in AI are skewed heavily in favour of men, and in Scotland, white men.I see this at every meeting discussing ELM. We must do more to get diversity in the thinking about how tools will be used and the opportunities they afford. One woman in the room is not enough. Building an AI profession for everyone: diversity at the heart of the UK’s tech future | BCS

Recruitment, retention and career progression are particularly vulnerable areas. If past hiring decisions favored certain demographics, AI systems may replicate these patterns, disadvantaging underrepresented groups.

It is clear that while some people are championing the use of AI with enthusiasm, it is likely to have a disproportionate impact on particular groups, and that is where EDI leadership must be alert. The UNESCO study find harms to women and girls, negative content about gay people and particular ethnic groups and racial stereotyping.

Bias is being discussed in popular magazines and in academic studies, but still targeted mostly at people who are interested in stories about AI, rather than the general public. eg:

I had hoped that digital accessibility would be an area of positive enhancement, and transform the lives of people with disabilities, and this does seem to be an area in which significant gains are being made. As I age and my eyes and ears let me down, I am hopeful for the many AI enhancements I will be able to access.

But there is still the underlying risk that developers who use AI to write code will be drawing on a historical mass of legacy code which did not include the features of accessibility and no-one will be checking.

What can we do:

  • Update all our EDI training offers to include content about the impact of AI.
  • Quickly target training at HR professionals, disability support staff, welfare advisers, safety staff, network groups, occupational health and well-being professionals and EDI leaders to ensure they understand the impact AI may be having.
  • Engage IT professionals and web developers in discussions about using AI in accessibility checking and coding.
  • Take care that any AI training we develop and deliver covers these topics above.
  • Take care that any AI tools we develop and deliver make considerable investment to be better for All.

 

 

 

International Women’s Day 2026- Molly Fergusson

It was my joy, once again to celebrate this day with a room opening.

Naming spaces on campus after women is crucial for several reasons:

  • Recognition of Achievements: It honors the achievements of women in STEM and other fields, despite the challenges they faced.
  • Historical Context: It provides a historical context to the University’s history, highlighting the contributions of women throughout history.
  • Promotion of Diversity: It promotes diversity and inclusion on campus, reflecting the University’s commitment to diversity and representation.
  • Inspiration: It serves as inspiration for future generations, encouraging them to pursue their passions and contribute to society.You can’t be what you can’t see.
  • Public Awareness: It raises public awareness about the contributions of women and encourages a more inclusive society.

By naming spaces on campus after women, the University of Edinburgh and other institutions can contribute to a more equitable and inspiring environment for all.

The University of Edinburgh owns more than 550 buildings throughout the city of Edinburgh across five campuses

On extensive campuses the size of Edinburgh’s the space is often shifting. I am pleased that ISG and Estates are able to continue a rolling programme of upgrades to teaching spaces.

And it is when a room like this gets a significant upgrade, or change of use, to bring it into the teaching estate and the care of ISG, we have an opportunity to give it an inspirational name.

There are dozens of rooms across the university named after men, few, so very few, named after women.

And this is a running battle . As the estate changes and shifts we make some gains and we take some losses.

ISG moving out of Argyle House means we have lost  4 spaces named for women who worked as pioneering digital librarians and Bletchley Park code breakers. Hopefully we will manage to re-instate them in Forrest Hill.

It was lovely to be back at KB campus. I am pleased to say, we have already named

The Mary Somerville Data Centre 

The Xia Pesu training room

The Charlotte Murchison Lecture theatre in Murchison House.

And now this Molly Fergusson room, a woman we have heard so much about today.

In preparing for today, and learning about Molly’s work, I have been thinking a bit about bridges, and building bridges.

I had an auntie who was a radical feminist and she would say to me

‘may the bridges I burn , light your way.

Which I thought sounded very cool. But I think generally, it is probably better if we build the bridges, cross them and then leave them unburned for others who follow across.

Unless they are your enemies, in which case you definitely want to be burning them.

Bridges are landmarks that define the identity of towns and cities, and a source of civic pride for the people who live there. Bridges can do more for communities than improving connectivity and promoting active travel, people feel very strongly about them.

The Society of Civil Engineers say:

“Bridge projects that seek to be socially transformative will not necessarily cost more than those that focus purely on building the bridge.”

And that is how if see these room naming opportunities. The fit out and design of the room is not more expensive for having the opportunity to also be socially transformative in celebrating  our community role models. By making and naming this place we can signal something about the university’s aspirational values for women and girls.

End of an Era

I survived Argyle House 2016-2026
I survived Argyle House 2016-2026

After 10 years of tenancy in Argyle House , we reach the end of an era as  University of Edinburgh Information Services Group move out and find a new home.

We have been through a lot in that space, most notably pandemics and floods. Our move to open plan working in 2016 was part of an ISG Change programme back in the day. which was about the same time that I started going on about EDI issues in the workplace Change Programme – Overview  

The  move away from everyone being hidden away in small offices in 20 different buildings was supposed to bring openness, visibility and make it easier for our diverse staff to meet each other and work together.  The senior leaders spent a lot of time trying to plan which teams would be best co-located. We also looked at our demographics and tried to mix up the directorates so that we wouldn’t have whole wings of men ( or women) which would make it uncomfortable for some to feel included.  We did not realise at the time how our thinking about workplaces would be so upended during the pandemic.

The building is mostly accessible and we have done our best with the things we could change. There are only accessible toilets on every other floor, and even then, they are in the ‘male estate’.

Our meeting room suite was designed  with glass walls and integrated art work. While I do think elevated the place, although controversially featured more than one image of a nude woman, which I was assured by men was ok in a workplace because it was art.

Our AV teams were really spoiling us with the service, support and top quality kit they provided. The receptionists have supported by odd requests to display sparkling awards  or issue fans as we have tackled the extreme heats of so many windows and so much menopause.

I am pleased we managed to name some of the spaces after inspirational women and particularly librarians, data scientists and Bletchley Park code breakers.

As Patrick Geddes would say, It’s all about Place, Work and Folk.  Let’s see what our new place holds.

 

Athena Swan win -assessment and feedback

I am delighted that my team in LTW at University of Edinburgh have gained a Bronze Athena Swan Award. I bet we are the first learning technology department in a UK university to do so. We are certainly the first professional services department  at Edinburgh to achieve it.  We got great feedback from the assessment panel.

The panel is satisfied that the application adequately addresses the award criteria and is pleased to confer a Bronze Athena Swan award.

The panel commends the leadership and senior buy-in which is evident in several ways, including:

·       the strong letter of endorsement from the Director which communicates a solid organisational commitment to Athena Swan and demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in improving service delivery and experience for all – the inclusion of Directorate initiatives in Institutional Athena Swan applications underscores the value of the work being undertaken (pp.5-6);

·       the Director’s personal leadership and active development of a range of EDI-related initiatives (pp.9-12);

·       resourcing a Data and Equality Officer (DEO) post which includes responsibilities to support EDI work, for example, reporting Directorate /user demographic data to the Senior Management Team (SMT) and maintaining the EDI newsletter (p.9);

·       senior management representation on the Directorate’s Self-Assessment Team (SAT), including the Director and the Head of Operations (pp.14-15);

·       recognition and reward of EDI work through both local (e.g., digital badges) and University recognition mechanisms (e.g., vouchers, annual review process, pp.10-11).

A clear governance structure for EDI is in place with accountability lying with senior colleagues (p.9). The panel commends the purposeful design of structures and processes to embed EDI in decision-making and in the culture of the Directorate, for example, the establishment of roles which explicitly involve EDI, the Dignity and Respect Advisor is a member of the SMT and Athena Swan will be a standing item at SMT meetings (pp.9-10, p.17, p.44). The links between the Directorate’s EDI work and University EDI governance structures appear strong, for example, the Director is a member of the University EDI Committee and the DEO sits on the University Equality and Diversity Monitoring and Reporting Committee (EDMARC) (p.9); these links ensure that the Directorate’s EDI/gender equality work is aligned with institutional strategy as well as providing opportunities for broader collaboration.

Similarly, processes for policy development and evaluation, including feedback routes, appear robust (p.13). The Directorate uses Equality Impact Assessments in respect of local policy/practice and staff perceptions of being informed about University policies relating to EDI are largely positive (although there is a disparity between male/female responses, p.13).

The SAT brings diversity of perspectives, including representatives from component teams and with different lived experience of members; the recruitment process, comprising expressions of interest combined with targeted invitations to ensure that the SAT reflects the diversity of the Directorate, is commended (pp.14-15).

A transparent account of the activities of the SAT from its inception until finalisation of the application, including a timeline (table 3), is provided (pp.16-17). Multiple data sources informed the self-assessment and a range of approaches have been utilised to capture the voices of the Directorate’s community (p.16). The Directorate’s plans to monitor and implement the action plan, which will be overseen by the SAT, appear robust and are commended (p.17).

As a result of a thorough analysis of the mandatory data and a critical evaluation of culture, a wide range of gender equality issues are identified (pp.18-26). The panel commends the:

·       range of activity to develop a positive and supportive culture, including Mandatory Training Day, Friday messages, events for Ada Lovelace Day, EDI reading groups and promoting the University’s Don’t Cross the Line campaign (pp.23-26). The impact of these activities is evident in positive feedback about the culture of the Directorate (e.g., 83% of respondents to the EDI survey ‘felt the workplace was inclusive’, p.23);

·       collection and analysis of data on contribution awards and pay;

·       evidence-based and thoughtful approach to the use of a variety of benchmarks to support a nuanced analysis of the gender equality issues facing the Directorate.

The panel congratulates the Directorate on achieving a Bronze award.

 Good practice examples highlighted

The panel considers the Directorate’s approach, led by the Wikimedian in Residence, to diversify Wikipedia writers and content, to be good practice. The Resident Wikimedian hosts regular events and workshops to train staff and students to edit Wikipedia entries and write articles to increase the diversity of subject and contributors (p.25). This work has been impactful in raising the profile of the limitations of Wikipedia (particularly to students), addressing the gender bias in whose stories are disseminated online and improving around 16,000 articles.

The panel also considers the PlayFair Steps initiative, including EDI recognition badges, to be good practice (pp.10-11).

More broadly, the panel commends the thoughtful consideration with which a variety of sector, discipline and regional benchmarks are used.

Joanna Highton

Joanna Highton
Joanna Highton

I have spent the last few years caring for my mother who, back in the day, was a bit of a lifelong learning radical herself.

You can read about her work on this blog Oh WOW! Women at Work in the 1980s – Diverse Collections  which may give some insights into what has influenced my own enthusiasm for the work we do in LTW to widen access to new careers, skills, learning and courses.

My mother worked at the University for about 20 (1984-2004) years in the department variously called Extra-Mural Studies, Continuing Education, Centre for Lifelong Learning, Widening Access, Centre for Open Learning. Her office was in the basement of 11 Buccleuch Place.

She also worked as an ante-natal counsellor for the NCT and as a volunteer for the CAB.

There was a time in my twenties when we couldn’t walk through Edinburgh without bumping into some one who wanted to stop and say hello, knowing her from the access courses and birthing moments* which were such key transformational moments in their lives.  I was proud to be seen with her and delighted when people said I looked or sounded like her ( which I don’t think I do).

Her recent death is not something I am ready to blog about yet, but I am putting this here because I know that sometimes friends and colleagues from the past do google for names.

I have enjoyed correspondence with several such people since I posted about my father.

We will have a memorial service for her in Edinburgh on 15th March (her birthday). Please do get in touch if you would like to come.

 

*her NCT involvement inspired some of my wikipedia editing for Prunella Briance, and Sheila Kitzinger

find lifelong learning at Edinburgh

Adulting
Adulting

Our short courses catalogue, which launched in May of this year, continues to grow, attracting visitors and over 1,800 enrolments to courses from engaged learners looking to learn something new, upskill or enhance their knowledge.

In the month of July there were over 800 enrolments to courses, an increase of 5% compared to June. Active users to the catalogue also increased by 68% month on month, with 58% more views to pages than in the month of June.  

With both organic and paid-for campaigns in place we expect to see this this trend of increasing web traffic and bookings over the coming months. We would encourage colleagues to share the short courses catalogue through their networks, mailing lists, on websites and social media channels.  

The Short Courses Platform Service team are working with colleagues to add more courses whilst also continuing to refine and optimise the catalogue based on user feedback. Some enhancements over the next few weeks and months will include a new and improved dynamic filter experience, enhanced course options table and cosmetic changes. This will ensure that the site continues to meet the needs of our users providing them with the best possible user experience when booking on to a course. 

Home | Short Courses – University of Edinburgh

Digital skills training for scientists and engineers

Building on previous research  analysis on who attends training, in what mode:

We know from our research that men in College of Science and Engineering (CSE)  are less likely to access digital skills training than women. This highlights a risk that they may get left behind.

My Digital Skills Training Team conducted a mapping exercise, matching our existing courses to the identified skills gaps, and ‘Digital Skills for CSE’ was born – a programme of 18 training sessions delivered over the course of two months, specifically for CSE staff audiences.

202 CSE colleagues attended the programme of training – this represents approximately 20% of the total annual CSE staff attendance across the entire Digital Skills Programme. ‘Digital Skills for CSE’ had a mean attendance of 11.2 people per session, which is slightly higher than our usual average attendance rate. We saw a no-show rate of 25% – this is lower than our usual no-show rate, which can vary between 30%-50%, depending on the course, time of year, and demographic breakdown of attendees (we usually see a higher no-show rate among student attendees).

The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with 96% of respondents stating that the course was relevant to their needs, and 98% of respondents agreeing that attending the course had given them a greater understanding of the topic.

Read more: Digital Skills for CSE – a data-driven success story – Digital Skills, Design and Training

staff satisfaction in 2025

The Staff Engagement Survey’s latest iteration was run in February-March 2025. I am pleased that Learning, Teaching and Web (LTW) had a survey response rate of 77%, higher than in 2023 (63%). This is also a much better response rate than the overall University (42%), and higher than ISG as a whole (75%).  

Overall, the staff satisfaction of colleagues in LTW is very high, with an overall increase seen since 2023 (and 2018), as well as higher scores on average than ISG and the University as a whole. Only 10 of the 48 items decreased, 3 of which concerned University leaders, and 2 related to University issues which we can’t do much about.

The majority of priorities actioned in the last survey have improved, with the exception being University leadership, although this was likely impacted by the change to the question.

The new priority following the 2025 survey is ‘career development’, with Satisfied with Career Development Opportunities decreasing by 6% since 2023.We will be exploring improving annual reviews,  highlighting and monitoring training opportunities, celebrating internal moves and skills development, and ensuring colleagues are aware of the bigger picture of their work contributing to the organisation an. 

I will give you more information about how we did in the priorities from 2023 at our All-staff meeting in July.

revisiting playful engagement

Lovely illustrations for our playful engagement website by the LTW Interactive Content Team

You may have seen a recent WonkHE article about playful leadership  The case for playful leadership | Wonkhe It announces a new research project called Re:PLAY * and I am pleased to say that ISG  University of Edinburgh is a partner in this research.

It was interesting to me that when the ISG directors had a team-building away day recently ( facilitated by Common Purpose), the advice from our visiting mentor was to embrace elements of playfulness in our leadership.

Playful Engagement at work refers to the attitude and behaviours of employees that involve approaching tasks, interactions, and challenges with a sense of enjoyment, creativity, and innovation. It involves injecting elements of fun, humour, and spontaneity into the work environment while still maintaining focus and productivity. At ISG this can encompass the ways we approach innovation, inclusion, creativity, workplace environment, workplace interactions, team building, community building, skill development, outreach, communication, work life balance, achievement and celebration.

The ISG Playful Engagement Strategy was created in 2019 to establish and cultivate a workplace environment and culture that integrates innovation, playful learning, and creative engagement into our practices. The strategy encompassed the implementation of services, tools, technologies, practices, communication, and community engagement throughout the group, extending beyond the University to address the new ways of working.

The original strategy meant to target the four focused areas which defines Playful Engagement for  ISG:

  1. Encourage the growth of innovative, playful, and creative minds.
  2. Advocate for the inventive and playful application of technologies and tools within ISG services.
  3. Leverage our top-tier libraries and collections in unique and captivating ways to enhance our services.
  4. Foster a healthy work-life balance and a positive, engaging work environment.

Over the past five years, ISG and its working strategies have evolved in the way we provide our services and the transition into digital habitation and hybrid modes of working. This project will give us an opportunity for an update of the ISG Playful Engagement strategy.

 

*not to be confused with the name of our lecture recording service

Re-Opening the Eleanor Ormerod Room

I was very pleased to add another space named for inspirational women in STEM to our collection.

Celebrating the re-opening of the Eleanor Ormerod Training room in the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library was fairly simple since Eleanor’s info board was already in this room,

The LST team have refitted the room and installed  lovely hexagonal tables so I hope it will become a hive of activity.

I took the chance to say a few things about Eleanor, and also Rachel Carson.

The reason we celebrate Eleanor at Edinburgh, is that she was the first woman to be awarded an honorary degree for the university… and hers was one of the very few women’s portraits on display in Old college- although her picture got taken down to make space for a modern inclusive display and never re-instated. Some irony in that, and something I am pleased we can address by re-instating her name now.

She is already honoured by ISG – in 2016 we named our cloud compute service Eleanor because it is a cloud and she was the first woman to be made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society,

Eleanor Ormerod was born in 1828 – and died in 1901, which means she overlapped slightly with Mary Somerville  after whom we named our data centre, who died in 1872.   They both lived long lives ( MS 90, EO 70) and were recognised in their lifetimes as important scientists.

When we look for women who have done inspirational work in STEM , we should always be curious to ask the question about how they were able to fund this work and their living. They were both from privileged backgrounds Mary was a widow, and Eleanor inherited from her father. Eleanor’s work was not taken seriously by her family until after her father dies in her 30s.

She was the first woman to make a scientific study of insect pests of garden and farm in Britain. She is the author of A manual of Injurious Insects. Some advice in the Manual of Injurious Insects would now be considered dangerous or unlawful. For example, the use of Paris Green, which is highly poisonous and responsible for the destruction of harmless fauna and flora.

She was not a fainthearted lass, had a tendency to try out poisons on herself just to see the effects, her Wikipedia page includes a contemporary account of her taking a bite of a poisonous newt.

We chose World Bee Day to open the room and also to think about poisons, environmentalism and changing attitudes to insecticides and farming  because bees worldwide are under threat from neonicotinoids

It makes me think of Rachel Carson born in 1907 famous for her book ‘Silent Spring’.   her house is near my family in Maryland and I think we can draw a very clear line to link Rachel’s work to Eleanor’s. They both studied insects and crops and the environment. They are both involved in insecticides. Eleanor promoted, even invented pesticides. Rachael protested their use ( particularly DDT) because of the harm they cause to other living things through water sources. They both worked essentially in government jobs – Eleanor unpaid and Rachel not paid much.

The honorary degree of LLD of the University of Edinburgh in March 1900 not long before she died.

‘The pre-eminent position which Miss Ormerod holds in the world of science is the reward of patient study and unwearying observation. Her investigations have been chiefly directed towards the discovery of methods for the prevention of the ravages of those insects which are injurious to orchard, field and forest. Her labours have been crowned with such success that she is entitled to be hailed the protectress of agriculture and the fruits of the earth—a beneficent Demeter of the 19th century.[1][3]