Staff Student EDI Network:
The staff-student EDI Network is open to all staff and students within the School of Medicine. We meet every 6 – 8 weeks during term time, to discuss priority EDI matters for students and the School, and to catch-up on activities and plans that have emerged out of discussions within the group. Formed in March 2022, so far, the group’s successes have included the mandatory introduction of microaggressions awareness training across all curriculum years; supporting the development of a survey to help support students of faith on the course and the creation and upkeep of the School's staff-student EDI Action Plan.
If you are interested in getting involved in the group, please contact Professor Taz Goddard-Fuller (they/them) via: Taz.Goddard-Fuller@liverpool.ac.uk
Our group meetings are usually hybrid in nature, to allow those who have been on placement or who are away from campus to still attend. We usually meet on a Wednesday afternoon to ensure no clashes with placement or other timetabled activity. Joining the group does not commit you to attending every meeting, but we do ask that you commit to attending at least one meeting in the academic year.
EDI Action Plan
The School’s Staff-Student EDI Action plan is updated once a year and reviewed regularly by the Staff-Student EDI Network. You can find a copy of the action plan here (link).
Supporting Students with disabilities
We recognise that student doctors like the population as a whole will experience illness, ongoing health issues and may live with disability.
As a future medic, your experience of illness, disability or living with a long term health condition can often support the development of your empathy and understanding for others - an important part of caring for the needs of your patients.
Guidance for current students: If you are currently a student at the University of Liverpool, you can access health and disability support via our Student Welfare and Support for Studies team. Please see full details on the Student intranet page here (link) - please note you will need to be logged into the intranet with your University username and password to access this page.
Supporting Students of faith
The School recognises that faith is an important part of the lives of many of our students, and that for many students and practitioners, the ability to practice ones faith can enrich clinical practice. The School is signed up to implementing the guidance set out in the Medical Schools Council document “Active Inclusion & Supporting Students of Faith” (PDF).
From 2023/24 onwards, in order to support students of faith; information on faith requirements is collected annually in the Summer ahead of a new academic year. The purpose of this data collection is to allow the School of Medicine at the University of Liverpool to understand the faith requirements of our MBChB cohort. While there is some activity that we will not be able to change (due to the timing of certain placement activity such as clinics or assessment for progression), we collect this information to help with planning; so that where possible, we can take into account their faith needs and help them balance this with their professional studies. Where relevant, information about specific faith-based adjustments and the reasons for this will also be shared with placement sites. The information is not linked to any other aspect of a student’s record. The data will be stored for as long as you remain a student at the School and will be deleted upon your graduation.
Guidance for current students: Please note that annual leave / time off the course for religious festivals will continue to be dealt with via the absence request system. If time off to observe specific festivals is important to you, please ensure you make leave requests as far in advance as possible. While the School recognises the importance of religious festivals for many of our students of faith, please note that all leave requests are considered with reference to how much time a student has already taken off from the course and whether the event being missed can be rescheduled. Therefore where possible it is good to liaise with the teaching team many weeks ahead, so as to ask not to be placed in a group with teaching on an important day for your religious observation, rather than try to request an absence for what is already scheduled.
Back to: School of Medicine