The Queen's College Record 2020

The first priority was to look at the College’s student gender balance. Sarah carried
out an extensive gender audit of all Oxford colleges and, much to our delight, we
discovered that we could be really proud of Queen’s. After Hertford College it has led
the way in consistent, balanced gender undergraduate intakes over the last decade.
This excellent record provided another good reason to celebrate our 40 Years of
Women anniversary in 2019.
Next, we turned our attention to the Governing Body. Quite quickly, we realised there
was an important event coming up – the appointment of a new Provost, to follow Paul
Madden – and that the process for recruiting his successor would be an opportunity
to consider how senior appointments in College were made. We discussed with
Professor Jane Mellor, Professor of Biochemistry and Equalities Fellow, whether
workshops on diversity in the recruitment process might be welcomed. Jackie has
extensive experience as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at two multinational
organisations. She had designed a range of leadership interventions focussing
on minimising subjectivity and unconscious bias in recruitment, which can lead to
organisations excluding well-qualified diverse candidates, particularly at senior levels,
and hence not always focussing on who is the best person for the role. It was agreed
that she would run two diversity workshops with members of the Electoral Body
(which consisted of all Fellows who were members of Governing Body).
Old Members’ Activities
The workshops began by understanding the neuroscience behind implicit, or
unconscious, bias – which we all have – and raising awareness of how it can affect
decision-making, particularly regarding under-represented groups. One of the key
messages in the presentations was an encouragement to think differently about
diversity – the end goal was not to recruit a specific type of ‘diverse’ candidate
(e.g. a woman or a person from the BAME community), but rather to ensure that
any potential biases were removed from an assessment of the capabilities of all
candidates, whatever their characteristics or background, which would then give all
qualified candidates a level playing-field on which to compete for the role, instead of
the unequal one which is often the case.
We then looked at research showing the benefits of increasing diversity, and discussed
a range of concrete actions that could be taken in order to ensure a fair and inclusive
recruitment process. The Electoral Body fully engaged with the discussions, and we
welcomed their decision to choose an executive search firm with specialist experience
in diversity to assist with the appointment.
At the end of a rigorous selection process, the Electoral Body offered the role to Dr
Claire Craig, and she became the first female Provost in the College’s 679-year history.
We were delighted to be able to contribute to the process.
College Record 2020 | The Queen’s College 93