The Equality, Diversity and Welfare (EDW) committee aims to promote and support women, those from ethnic minorities, and those who may face physical or psychological challenges. We aim to do so by fostering an inclusive environment in which each member of staff and all students feel valued and are also free to speak to other members of staff about problems they face or observe in a supportive environment and without fear of retribution.
Such communications occur through formal or informal meetings. In we host events and communicate through a weekly newsletter that welcomes new starters, celebrates personal and professional achievements and highlights what’s on offer within the department and through the University more widely. Our goal is to bring out the best in everyone and to help them learn and thrive in their studies and jobs however long we have the privilege of providing them with a place of employment or study.
These activities involve every member of the Department. The remit of the Equality, Diversity and Welfare committee is to monitor such activities, identify areas where we fall short and propose remedies to constantly improve and enhance the experience of everyone who comes here to work or study. Another important aspe
ct of the committee is to support the Athena Swan application process which from now on will be led by the School of Biological Sciences with the strongest support from each of the constitutive Departments and Institutes. Our contribution to this process is led by Professor Andrew Firth
Professor Klaus Okkenhaug
Chair of the EDW Committee
Klaus joined the Department of Pathology in 2017 as Professor of Immunology and Head of the Division of Immunology. He has been Chair of the EDW committee since 2021.
He has a strong commitment to promoting equality and diversity in all aspects across the Department. He obtained his BSc in Victoria, British Columbia and PhD from the University of Toronto. After postdoctoral training in London, he moved to the Babraham Institute in 2003 to start his independent research group.
Professor Heike Laman
Gender Champion
I graduated from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and pursued a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University in New York City, working with David Shore on transcriptional silencing in yeast. In 1997 I moved to London to work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund on the control of DNA replication by oncogenic cyclins with Nic Jones and Gordon Peters. I then moved to the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at University College London to work with Chris Boshoff on the regulators of herpesvirus-encoded cyclins.
In 2005 I joined the Department of Pathology to establish my independent research group focusing on the biology and therapeutic targeting of ubiquitin ligases in cancer and Parkinson's disease. I am now a Senior University Lecturer in the Division of Cancer and Genetic Disease and a Fellow of Clare College, where I am Director of Studies for Pathology and Genetics.
I have been part of the Athena SWAN Working Group starting in 2013, and am now the Gender Champion for the Department, charged with coordinating the implementation of the action plan outlined in our Bronze Award. I am very much looking forward to bringing about the structural and cultural changes needed to promote and progress women and minority groups in our Department.
Dr Gillian Fraser
Deputy Head of Department (Teaching)
I joined the Department of Pathology in 1993 as a postgraduate student in Microbiology. On completing my studies and after a short post-doc, I was awarded a Wellcome Trust International Prize Travelling Research Fellowship to work on bacterial flagella biogenesis at Yale University. In 2002, I returned to the Department to complete my fellowship and take up a University Lectureship in Cellular and Molecular Microbiology. I'm now Senior University Lecturer, Director of Teaching and Deputy Head of Department. In addition to my work in Pathology, I'm the Niccoli Fellow in the Natural Sciences at Queens' College.
In 2014, I joined the Athena SWAN working group and was heavily involved in preparing the submission and action plan for the Department's 2015 Bronze Award. The EDW Committee is now implementing the action plan and I'm hopeful that this will have a positive impact on the Department's culture and, in particular, the progression of women and other under-represented groups into senior academic positions.
Dr Colin Crump
I graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in Biochemistry in 1995, and then undertook a PhD in George Banting's laboratory at the University of Bristol in membrane traffic research. After completing my PhD in 1999 I was awarded a Wellcome Trust International Prize Travelling Research Fellowship to work on the role of membrane trafficking proteins in herpesvirus assembly in Gary Thomas' laboratory at the Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University. I returned to the UK in 2002 and joined the Department of Pathology to continue my research on herpesvirus assembly in Tony Minson's laboratory and I was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to establish my independent research group in 2005. I took up a University Lectureship in the Department in 2012 and I was promoted to University Senior Lecturer in 2016. I am also a Fellow and Director of Studies at Robinson College. I have been a member of the Athena SWAN working group since 2014.