Francis Crick Institute statement on Black Lives Matter

In response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, the Crick will continue working to address issues of racial and ethnic inequality.

We want to achieve change for the better, and this statement expresses the commitment of the Crick’s Executive Committee to doing this:

“Scientific discovery depends on creativity, openness, collaboration and sharing, which is why the Crick can only reach its full potential if it has an environment where our staff feel able to be themselves and where differences are celebrated. To achieve this, we are committed to embracing and improving equality, diversity and inclusion, and will challenge ourselves to embed these values firmly within our culture.  

We will work with our EDI committee, the Crick’s race equity staff network PRISM, and all staff and students to increase diversity and inclusion. We will apply the principles set by the Race Equality Charter to help improve equality at the Crick, and will ensure that our minority ethnic staff and students have the right opportunities to progress and succeed. 

Black lives matter. As a scientific community we stand by colleagues expressing their frustration and outrage at anti-blackness and systemic racism. Racism has no place in society or science.”

Paul Nurse, Director
Sam Barrell, Chief Operating Officer
Richard Treisman, Director of Research
Steve Gamblin, Director of Scientific Platforms
Malcolm Irving, Associate Research Director
Stephane Maikovsky, Chief Financial Officer
Jane Hughes, Director of Communications and Public Engagement
Dan Fitz, Company Secretary
Fiona Roberts, Chief People Officer

What the Crick is doing to tackle racial inequalities

We are working with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee and PRISM, the Crick’s race equity staff network, on these initiatives: 

  • Using the principles of the Race Equality Charter to help us assess our current situation and to develop and implement an action plan to address the lack of ethnic and racial diversity across the organisation, especially at senior levels. We are not able to sign up as a member of the Charter, because it is only open to Higher Education Institutions. 
     
  • Planning a workshop for BAME undergraduate students to encourage applications for PhD positions.
     
  • Running focus groups to help us better understand why black staff report lower engagement levels in the staff survey. 
     
  • Setting up a working group to further investigate the finding in the Athena SWAN questionnaire that relatively few BAME members of staff felt that the Crick has an inclusive culture. 
     
  • Reviewing recruitment statistics with a focus on race and ethnicity to better understand our current situation.
     
  • Further encouraging staff to provide their diversity data so that recruitment statistics are more informative; only 58% of staff have so far done so. 

In addition:

  • We have participated in StellarHE (leadership development for diverse leaders in higher education).
     
  • We have offered work experience for BAME students.
     
  • Our education programme aimed at encouraging young people to consider science careers reaches a diverse group of young people, with approximately 90% of Camden pupils coming from a non-white background. 
     
  • We are a founding member of EDIS, a coalition organisation working to advance equality, diversity and inclusion in the science and health sectors.  
     
  • Our PRISM network has created spaces for staff to have informal conversations about race equity, which are used to help inform strategy and policies.

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