Equality, diversity and inclusion

Professor of Finance and Chair of the Athena SWAN panel

As Dean of Essex Business School, Professor Claudia Girardone promotes equality and diversity as fundamental principles for achieving research excellence. She embeds these principles in research policies, practices and culture. Professor Girardone has undertaken a number of career development opportunities provided by the University of Essex. Most recently, she has attended a course on measuring research quality and benchmarking performance against other universities.

Academic Officer and Deputy Manager

Alex Nicholas is Academic Officer and Deputy Manager at our Southend Campus and the Unison Branch Equality Officer for the University of Essex. He is particularly interested in LGBTQI equality. As a trade union representative, Alex promotes equality in the workplace and ensures that equality issues are considered in collective bargaining. He seeks to ensure that every worker receives fair treatment irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion, age or sexuality. He was part of the self- assessment team for the University’s Gender Equality Chartermark application. He has completed a TUC accredited Equality Representatives course and has recently completed his Executive MBA with Essex Business School.

Student Services Advisor

Darren Herbert is a Student Services Advisor at our Colchester Campus. As part of the School’s students services team, Darren and his colleagues are often the first port of call for students looking for advice. Darren works closely with the University’s Student Services Hub and signposts students to relevant support services. Darren has undertaken mental health first aid training, as well as professional development around managing difficult conversations.