The Faculty seeks to promote Disability Equality in a number of ways:

• By holding a Disability Working Group every term to raise any issues relating to accessibility, equality and inclusivity for people with disabilities that are pertinent to History at Oxford, whether these affect students, academic staff or professional staff; to assess these as they arise, and feed back to the Equality and Diversity Committee
• By promoting an inclusive, supportive working environment for staff and students, free from discrimination and harassment on account of disability
• By considering explicit and implicit bias within the Faculty and the wider University, and where necessary to explore ways to overcome this
• By taking a proactive role with respect to supporting and including disabled students and staff within History
• By encouraging the study of disability throughout history, hosting events to mark Disability History Month, and by supporting the creation of a guide to Disability History resources with the Bodleian library
• By supporting inclusive teaching, which respects the diversity of students
• By the provision of helpful information and contacts to provide support to students and staff with disabilities, and to aid awareness of Disability issues

You can find further information on the support provided by the Faculty and University for students and staff with disabilities under Welfare and Harassment Advice.

The History Faculty is committed to gender equality. It is determined to foster an academic environment in which everyone is included, respected and empowered to fulfil their potential. 

The Faculty pursues these objectives in a number of ways:

• By holding a Gender Working Group every term to raise and consider any issues relating to sex equality and gender equality pertinent to History at Oxford, whether these affect students, academic staff or professional staff; to assess these as they arise, and feed back to the Equality and Diversity Committee
• By continuing to commit to an ongoing process of embedding change through wide consultation, discussion, systematic monitoring, and in 2020-21 a review of progress in the form of a detailed gender and equality questionnaire as part of the Athena SWAN Bronze Award
• By promoting an inclusive, supportive working environment for staff and students, free from discrimination and harassment on account of sex or gender. This includes ensuring greater clarity on harassment and complaint procedures; enhancing our appeal to female and transgender applicants; ensuring that gender and LGBTQ+ issues are considered in all appointments; and supporting students and staff, whatever their legal sex, in realising their potential and achieving full recognition for their work.
• By ensuring inclusivity of research seminars, and providing unconscious bias and responsible bystander training
• By developing the undergraduate and graduate history syllabus to promote greater gender inclusivity in terms of content, approach and teaching materials, including the launch of a Masters course in Women’s, Gender and Queer History

The History Faculty is committed to LGBTQ+ equality. It is determined to foster an academic environment in which everyone is included, respected, and empowered to fulfil their potential. 

The Faculty pursues these objectives in a number of ways:

• By holding an LGBTQ+ Working Group every term to raise and consider any issues relating to LGBTQ+ equality pertinent to History at Oxford, whether these affect students, academic staff or professional staff; to assess these as they arise, and feed back to the Equality and Diversity Committee
• By committing to an ongoing process of embedding change through wide consultation, and discussion
• By promoting an inclusive, supportive working environment for staff and students, free from discrimination and harassment on account of sexual orientation. This includes ensuring greater clarity on harassment and complaint procedures; enhancing our appeal to LGBTQ+ applicants; ensuring that LGBTQ+ issues are considered in all appointments; and supporting students and staff, whatever their legal sex or sexual orientation, in realising their potential and achieving full recognition for their work.
• By ensuring inclusivity of research seminars, and providing unconscious bias and responsible bystander training
• By developing the undergraduate and graduate history syllabus to promote greater inclusivity in terms of content, approach and teaching materials, including the launch of a Masters course in Women’s, Gender and Queer History

The Faculty is committed to race equality and confronting racism. It is determined to foster an academic environment in which everyone is included, respected and empowered to fulfil their potential. 

The Faculty pursues these objectives in a number of ways:

• Over the course of 2020-22, a Race Equality Action Group (REAG) undertook a systematic project of data collection, listening and research, in order to develop and embed anti-racist policies and practices. These focused on Recruitment and Staff Experience, Admissions and Student Experience, Research and Curriculum. Alongside this, the REAG organised a programme of internal and public events to underline the importance of research on the histories of race and raced experience.
• Alongside the REAG, a Race Equality Working Group (REWG) – comprising undergraduate, graduate, ECR, staff and Faculty representatives – meets termly and reports to the Equality and Diversity Committee and presents proposals to the Faculty Board. The REWG continues the work of the REAG, utilising its findings and implementing its recommendations.
• The Faculty aims to promote greater clarity on harassment and complaint procedures.
• We work to enhance our appeal to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants at undergraduate and graduate level, as well as in recruiting academic staff.
• We support students and staff from under-represented backgrounds through all stages of the academic pipeline.
• We introduce measures to increase the inclusivity of research seminars, and encouraging all staff to undertake training on tackling race bias at work.
• The Faculty also continues to diversify the curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels, with the aim of increasing the number of courses concerned with Asian, African, South American and Black British history, and promotes the study of the Global South more broadly. In addition, we seek to introduce students to a range of historical approaches beyond those dominant in the European historical tradition.

Note on language: the History Faculty follows the recommendation of the REAG in noting that categories of racial and ethnic identity are blunt and present difficulties of use and interpretation, but that where an overarching category is needed, the preference will be for ‘Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic’ (avoiding the use of the acronym as much as possible). This terminology was felt to highlight in a useful way the specificity of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic experience in Britain and its relationship to the imperial historical context; it can also be readily related to existing statistical data. The Faculty further notes the specificity of racialisation in Britain and its intersections with class, the ways in which the raced identities of international students might emerge from very different contexts, and recognises that individuals may often choose to describe themselves using other terms.