Support for staff

The department is committed to supporting members of staff, visitors and students living with a disability or long-term health condition, including for example, sensory or mobility impairments, long-term health conditions, specific learning difficulties, autistic spectrum conditions or mental health difficulties. If you require support or an adjustment, please speak to your line manager or contact the HR team.

Advice is available within the university from the Staff Disability Advisor and the Occupational Health Service. An overview about services for disabled staff, students and visitors, and for those supporting individuals with a disability, is available here.

The Disabled Staff Network is for staff with a disability or long-term health condition who work for the University or colleges. 

We are proud of our Athena Swan Bronze Award, achieved in 2020, which recognises our ongoing efforts to improve gender equality and introduce organisational and cultural practices which promote equality and create a better working environment for all.

The department is committed to building an inclusive environment in which people can be themselves and where transgender and non-binary staff are treated with dignity and respect, in line with the University’s Transgender Policy and associated guidance.

The University has an active LGBTQ+ network for staff and postgraduate students and growing networks of LGBT+ Role Models and Allies. Staff are encouraged to join these networks. New members of LGBTQ+ staff may find information in this leaflet useful.  

Our Athena Swan submission is available here and contains a detailed Action Plan to help us address the department’s main equality and diversity challenges.

The ODID Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee has a sub-group examining how to advance equality, in particular race equality, across its teaching and research.

Information about initiatives led by Research Centres and Course teams is available in the section on Advancing equality and diversity in teaching and research above. To build a broad network of Visiting Academics, the department has partnered with the Africa Oxford Initiative to create an annual AfOx-ODID Fellowship.

Staff and postgraduate students who identify as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) are encouraged to join the BME staff network. The network offers support to enable professional success among staff at all levels.

The department also supports the work of the University Race Equality Task Force to advance racial equality. 

The University of Oxford is a proud member of Stonewall's Diversity Programme for ensuring all LGBTQ+ staff are accepted without exception in the workplace. The department is committed to creating an inclusive environment for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff and students.

The University has an active LGBTQ+ network for staff and postgraduate students and growing networks of LGBT+ Role Models and Allies. Staff are encouraged to join these networks.

New members of LGBTQ+ staff may find information in this leaflet useful.