Panel session recordings

This is the fourth meeting of the UK Medical Schools EDI Network, which began with a focus on the Athena Swan Charter in Medical Schools. Since then we have seen a broadening of the EDI agenda, and medical schools now have a wealth of charters that they can choose to adopt. In this panel:

• Dr Ruth Gilligan, Assistant Director for UK Equality Charters at Advance HE, speaks about the role of Advance HE Charters within this context, historically, and looking forwards and how institutes may take an intersectional approach to EDI.
• Dr Margot Turner, Co-Chair of the Medical School’s Council EDI Alliance, sets out the background to the EDI Alliance Board and Reference Group, their values and the development of the Active inclusion: Challenging exclusions document.
• Raymond Effah, Co-Chair of the BMA Medical Schools Committee, provides an overview of the BMA Charter for the prevention of racial harassment in medical schools, describes schools' engagement with Charter, and a case study from Imperial College London.

There is recognition that there is more that medical schools could do to support disabled students and staff. In this panel, we hear personal experiences from both a staff and student perspective on challenges and barriers, as well as examples of positive action medical schools can take to address these:

• Dr Jen Warren, Co-Chair of the Disabled Doctors Network, speaks on why there are so few disabled doctors, and the activity of the Disabled Doctors network
• Dr Jessica Speller, recent graduate, Leicester Medical School, gives practical examples of support that medical schools can provide for disabled students

Many UK Medical Schools have now committed to the BMA Charter for the prevention of racial harassment in medical schools. In this panel we hear both staff and student perspectives on the steps that medical schools can take to progress race equality and address racial harassment:

• Professor Olanrewaju Sorinola, University of Warwick, speaks on the importance of race equality in medicine, and the approach that Warwick Medical School has taken towards addressing and closing the awarding gap for medical students
• Wendy Tetteh and Takunda Nhiwatiwa, final year medical students and co-chairs of MedRACE, University of Leicester, describe student and staff collaboration to mainstream EDI in the learning environment.