Equality and Diversity

Students sat in the SCC labs

Our Commitment

At Lancaster, we are proud to support and champion our staff and students from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender and gender identity, sexuality, religion, disability, marital and pregnancy status, or age.

SCC’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, which has both staff and student representation, aims to learn and share best EDI practices, engage with other EDI groups within the University, and create an inclusive learning and working community in SCC.

Two students sat at a desk with a laptop in front of them

Women ++@InfoLab

Women++@InfoLab is a group open to all staff and students in SCC which celebrates women and underrepresented gender groups in Computing. There are opportunities to meet up, as well as networking lunches, talks from industry representatives and academics, and workshops.

BCS Lovelace Colloquium

This year we hosted the annual British Computing Society Lovelace Colloquium, and many of our undergraduates had the opportunity to present posters.

There is a programme of workshops to support women and non-binary UG and PGT students who would like to present a poster at the Lovelace Colloquium. Please contact Emily Winter for more information.

BCS Lovelace Colloquium logo
Athena SWAN Bronze Award

Athena Swan

Addressing issues of gender equality is one of the School’s top priorities and we aspire to have a diverse, inclusive and fair working environment. We designed a five-year action plan targeting a myriad of issues relating to recruitment, development, and retention. To support this, an EDI committee dictated resources to effectively implement this.

We are also keen to see improvement of gender equality issues across the computer science field and across the higher education sector. If you’re interested in reading more about our action plan, you can find this below, and we hope this is a useful example to help other institutions develop their action plans for gender equality under the Athena Swan Transformed Charter principles

Athena Swan Action Plan

The School of Computing and Communications' Athena Swan Action Plan outlines the key steps the School wishes to take, including the success criteria it aims to meet.

Action Plan

LGBTQ+ Allies

Luke Halpin

Luke Halpin, pronouns (he/him)

Hi I’m Luke, and I am currently a first year PhD student in SCC looking at digital accessibility in education and also a TA. I’m also on the department EDI committee as a student representative, and I am an ally for LGBTQ+ staff and students in our department. I am also the student rep on the committee that runs the ally network and captain of the universities men’s seconds fencing team for anyone interested. I can usually be found in C22 in the InfoLab for anyone who wants to chat, or can be contacted at l.halpin@lancaster.ac.uk

Jesse Phillips, pronouns (they/them)

Hi! My name is Jesse. I'm a PhD student and TA in SCC. I'm also a former LGBTQ+ Officer for LUSU. My research focuses on using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to document source code. You'll most often find me either supporting lab sessions, or around B-floor of InfoLab. You can contact me via email at: j.m.phillips@lancaster.ac.uk.

Jesse Phillips
Alec Denny Craine

Alec Denny Craine (he/him)

Hi, my named is Alec, I use he/him pronouns and I am a 3rd-year computer science student. I am also the Vice-President of Lancaster Snow. If you need to get in touch with me, you can do so at a.dennycraine@lancaster.ac.uk

Molly O’Reilly-Kime, pronouns (they/them)

Hello, my name is Molly and I’m a PhD student in SCC. I research how Non-Binary people express gender identity and build community through social media, by looking at platform design and moderation tools. You can find me on C floor in Infolab, or shoot me a message at m.oreilly-kime@lancaster.ac.uk

Molly O’Reilly-Kime

Wider University initiatives

EDI Chairs

Nigel Davies

Professor Nigel Davies

Head of Department, Distinguished Professor

CeMoRe - Centre for Mobilities Research, Centre for Global Eco-innovation , Cyber Security Research Centre (Pervasive Systems), DSI - Foundations, Energy Lancaster, SCC (Pervasive Systems)

Tracy Hall

Professor Tracy Hall

Chair in Software Engineering

Cyber Security Research Centre (Software Engineering), DSI - Foundations, SCC (Software Engineering), Security Lancaster, Security Lancaster (Software Security)