Published
Over the past decade the Association has prioritised Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. We have sought to create diverse speaking panels and delegates at our events, and we have encouraged our members to look hard at their senior management and determine whether they are truly representative of our society.
Since we launched our EDI initiative in 2015, we have held multiple events on topics such as neurodiversity, race and gender balance. These were all very well attended and garnered lots of support from our members. However, in many cases it felt as though we were “preaching to the converted”.
Our EDI task and finish group decided to change tactics and instead to focus on sharing messages about the importance of diversity and inclusion with a wider audience. Since October 2023 we have trialled our Inclusion Moment at the start of all of our face-to-face events.
Key elements of Inclusion Moments
We have reviewed all of the Inclusion Moments to date and have learned some key elements which make them powerful messages about how important it is to consider these issues when delivering major projects:
- Make it relevant – when Rob Kelly from Anglian Water spoke at our seminar on managing a project during a major incident, he talked about the impact of emergency relief on the wellbeing of himself and his team.
- Tell a story – Katharina Ferguson from Lower Thames Crossing told us the story of Dr James Barry a well-regarded army doctor in the late 18th century who was in fact a woman. The only way she could access medical training and a career was to pretend to be a man. A feat she pulled off until her post-mortem revealed her female anatomy.
- Make it personal – Al Simmonite talked about the importance of allyship and told the seminar delegates how he had learned the importance of this in his role as a parent of neurodivergent children.
- Include a call to action – Emma Howard Boyd invited delegates at the Prestige Event to walk through the Institution of Civil Engineers and try to spot all the portraits of historic Presidents of the Institution who were not white and male.
Become an Inclusion Moment speaker
We have most of our Inclusion Moments planned from now until the end of 2024 but we are already seeking volunteers for our 2025 programme. Visit our Events page to see our planned 2025 events.
If you have a story to tell and think you can weave it into a powerful Inclusion Moment linked to any of our events going forward please get in touch with Manon.Bradley@majorprojects.org.
Join our Inclusion Hub
And if you would like to join our newly refreshed Inclusion Hub – our group for those who are passionate about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in major projects – please contact Ellie Gregory (ellie.gregory@majorprojects.org) for more information.
