This event took place in Manchester on 18th July 2019 The event was funded by our sponsors – Sellafield Ltd, UKAEA, NNL and EDF HPC, and was a success due to the active contribution of the diverse range of attendees, speakers and workshop leaders. The spaces at the event were limited to 60, with others able to watch the presentations via an internet live stream. This page is for those that were not able to attend and have an interest in supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the industry.
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Five Takeaways from the event
1. Engaging the majority is crucial
One of the workshops, delivered by Mark McBride-Wright of EqualEngineers, was on the topic of engaging the majority. Currently it seems that it is those from minority or underrepresented groups that are taking the initiative to drive and progress E,D&I. It is understandable why members from those groups have been motivated into action before the majority, but we are now far enough along to know that an equal, diverse and inclusive workforce is beneficial for everyone. How can we shift this dynamic so that we all, especially the majority, are bought in and actively contributing? In the workshop, many practical steps that we can take were identified and shared. A summary of these will be shared in an article that will be published here on www.dinuclear.com in September 2019.
2. Unconscious bias training
should be available to everyone in the industry – Another of the workshops, delivered by Irene Afful from Ametrine Enterprise Solutions Professional Coaching & Consultancy, focused on unconscious bias and positions of privilege. By the very definition, this refers to biases we have picked up through our life experiences that we may not even be aware of. A crucial point is that there is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to unconscious bias, and that we should not be afraid to identify and recognise our own. Unconscious bias is one reason that we gravitate to hiring people like ourselves, which is a barrier to equality, diversity and inclusion as it perpetuates the majority in teams and in entire organisations. Two actions that we can all take are to identify and recognise our own unconscious biases (Harvard has free online tests you can take https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/), and to ensure that there is diversity in interviewer panels. Upping the interview panel from one person to two people, provides an opportunity to help reduce unconscious bias impacting the selection process.
3. We need to develop a support network
The same suggestion came up from several of the attendees at the event in Manchester. It would be great if we had a way to share information, case studies, best practice and practical examples of how different people, teams and organisations are progressing with E,D&I initiatives. This sharing could be amongst stakeholders in the UK nuclear industry and could also include input from other industries and other countries. The sheer amount of information, and indeed information sources, is bewildering in our modern information age. One of the actions we have taken away from the event is to look at how to gather relevant and useful information and then make it available to stakeholders in the UK nuclear industry in a way that it is easy to digest and to turn in to practical value adding activities. Watch this space….
4. There are many aspects of identity that deserve recognition
One of the many thought provoking realisations that came from the event was that there are many more aspects that make up our identities than immediately come to mind for most people. Deborah Beveridge from EDF led an excellent workshop on flexibility and dynamism in work, delving in to how flexibility in working practices can support E,D&I. For example, it was discussed how a company policy that treats those with children differently to those without children in terms of flexible working allowances is not necessarily fair. It shows that sometimes the most well meaning of policies and actions can create feelings of isolation and unfairness amongst others. Defining every identity aspect is a significant undertaking, and nearly everyone could potentially find themselves feeling excluded at one point or another. A good starting point is to simply put ourselves in the shoes of those around us and constantly be aware of how our actions or behaviours might make them feel. A little empathy can go a long way.
5. The updated conference format was a success
The event in Manchester was filmed and broadcasted live on the internet. The cost of doing this is a fraction of what it was even 5 years ago and made the event more inclusive and available to those that could not be there on the day. The links to watch the videos of the presentations will be shared via our mailing distribution (email info@dinuclear.com to request or sign up here to the mailing list). The presentations are concise, engaging and tell the stories of the presenters. They are available for people across the UK nuclear industry to watch at their leisure in the coming weeks and months. It is clear that we need to engage with a wide audience, especially the majority, so this type of event format is a proven formula for future events. In addition, the workshops provided practical take-aways, some of which have been described in this article..
2019 Conference Speakers

Irene Afful
Founder & Director, Ametrine Enterprise Solutions Coaching & Consultancy
Irene Afful joined Merseyside Police in February 1991, ten years on from the Toxteth riots and having suffered racial abuse at the hands of the police. She served 25 years as an officer. She overcame race and gender barriers, direct and indirect discrimination to become the first ever black female inspector in the history of Merseyside Police.
As a pioneer and role model, Irene coached and mentored other minority staff for promotion and lateral development, helping them build resilience for success. She designed, developed and delivered a leadership programme which was instrumental in increasing the recruitment of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic), women and other minority groups to the force. Irene was headhunted to work as a consultant for the College of Policing on diversity and inclusion. She worked with 21 forces across the country addressing minority group under-representation. She targeted recruitment, retention and progression issues, including reviewing and assessing positive action processes.
Irene is now Founder & Director of Ametrine Enterprise Solutions Coaching & Consultancy where she continues to pursue her passion for equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership development and well-being at work. She is a published author and holds a Master’s degree in Police Leadership.

Jane Francis
Head of Diversity & Inclusion at EDF Energy
Jane Francis is the Head of Diversity & Inclusion at EDF Energy and has led the LGBT+ employee network for several years, championing and raising awareness of LGBT+ issues and inclusion in the workplace. A senior leader and professional engineer, with considerable experience leading individuals, teams, general operational activities and engineering projects. More recently she has spent the last few years using her operational excellence experience to transform Corporate Finance and the Major Investment Governance activities within EDF Energy.
Jane started her career in a variety of operational manufacturing and engineering based roles before joining the electricity industry in 1996 as Control Centre Manager for the London Electricity Networks business and then moving onto major engineering and transformation projects. Early in her career she often found herself being the only woman and the only member of the LGBT+ community in the team, which brought both challenges and a great learning experiences. Jane has hit the ground running in her new role, bringing the breadth of her operational experience and a desire to ensure that each employee, and every person that works with us, can fully be themselves in the workplace. When we can be ourselves, we can thrive at work. She aims to drive a real focus on the employee experience being at the core of what we do, to have conscious inclusion, right across the company.

Neil Crewdson
Head of Project Management & Capabilities for Sellafield Ltd.
Neil joined Sellafield as an apprentice in 1996 and is a member of the senior leadership team accountable for Project Management and its capabilities at Sellafield.
Neil is responsible for over 1600 project professionals across, project management, project controls, risk, estimating, construction, commissioning, pre-operations and the Sellafield project academy. Ensuring Sellafield has the right people, in the right place at the right time.
2019 Workshop Leads

Dr Mark McBride-Wright
Founder & Managing Director, EqualEngineers
Mark McBride-Wright, PhD, CEng, MIChemE is a recognised diversity and inclusion leader. He is Founder and Managing Director of EqualEngineers, a company focused on connecting inclusive employers with diverse talent in the engineering and technology sectors and offering a wide array of D&I consultancy services alongside annual careers fairs and networking events. He is also Chair and Co-Founder of InterEngineering, a non-profit industry body that connects, informs and empowers LGBT+ engineers and supporters with a membership of over 1,000 engineers across 4 regional groups across the UK. Mark is Founding Member of the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group for the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), External Advisor to the Metropolitan Police, sitting on their Strategic Inclusion Diversity & Equality (STRIDE) Board, Diversity Board Member for the University of Kent, and Advisory Member to the Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
In recognition of his diversity work, Mark won the coveted ‘Corporate Rising Star’ award at the 2016 British LGBT Awards and was ranked #2 in the 2015 Financial Times Future LGBT Leaders list (#6 in 2016). In addition, he was ‘Highly Commended’ at the Inclusive Networks Awards (2015), shortlisted for the ‘Corporate Equality Award’ by PinkNews (2016), and is a regular speaker at the London Business School. He has worked with many Fortune 50 companies on D&I programs and talent engagement strategies and has also authored a white paper for the UK Government on tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in engineering. Mark is a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) by training with a focus on health and safety, having worked at KBR Inc (2013-2017) and ERM (2012-2013) before pursuing his work in diversity. He also holds a doctorate (PhD) in chemical engineering at Imperial College London (2009-2013).

Irene Afful
Founder & Director, Ametrine Enterprise Solutions Coaching & Consultancy
Irene Afful joined Merseyside Police in February 1991, ten years on from the Toxteth riots and having suffered racial abuse at the hands of the police. She served 25 years as an officer. She overcame race and gender barriers, direct and indirect discrimination to become the first ever black female inspector in the history of Merseyside Police.
As a pioneer and role model, Irene coached and mentored other minority staff for promotion and lateral development, helping them build resilience for success. She designed, developed and delivered a leadership programme which was instrumental in increasing the recruitment of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic), women and other minority groups to the force.
Irene was headhunted to work as a consultant for the College of Policing on diversity and inclusion. She worked with 21 forces across the country addressing minority group under-representation. She targeted recruitment, retention and progression issues, including reviewing and assessing positive action processes.
Irene is now Founder & Director of Ametrine Enterprise Solutions Coaching & Consultancy where she continues to pursue her passion for equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership development and well-being at work. She is a published author and holds a Master’s degree in Police Leadership.

Deborah Beveridge
Senior Commercial Leader, Head of Function (Supply Chain Enabling Organisations), Hinkley Point C, EDF Energy
Deb was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. She started out her career in 1996 as a Production Planner in GE Caledonian, which is an engine repair and overhaul shop based in Prestwick (Scotland), a subsidiary of US firm General Electric. She spent her first few years gaining business and industry awareness, as well as a good Operations understanding. She then became a certified Black Belt in 2000 and in 2001, she was appointed as a Customer Program Manager which enabled her to gain commercial expertise as well as experience customer interface. She attended Herriot Watt University (Edinburgh) on a part-time basis for three years and graduated with a B.A. degree in Management in 2006. Soon after graduating, she took on a Strategic Commercial role which helped her to further develop her team leadership skills and functional depth and expertise.
In 2011, she moved back to Operations and led the Materials & Planning Organisations at GE Caledonian where she was focused on driving supply chain excellence at the site as well as a model for coaching and people development. In addition to her Operations Leadership role, she was appointed as the site Engagement Leader. In 2013, she was asked to step up to the role of Acting Plant Leader (Managing Director) for a period of six months where she led the 800+ employee Aviation plant. In 2014, Deb was promoted into the executive Plant Leader role at the GE Aviation Hamble facility in Hampshire and she relocated from Scotland to Hampshire with her family. The Hamble shop manufacture Aircraft structural components and employs approx. 1000 employees. In 2017, Deb decided to make a bold but very exciting career decision. After 22 excellent years at GE, she was offered and she accepted a strategic appointment on the Hinkley Point C Senior Leadership team. She is responsible for Global Supply Chain Engagement and Collaboration strategies, functional org. design, plus compliance with internal procurement arrangements. Deb has always been an Ambassador for the Women’s Network(s) and has been a business rep and active supporter of the Network(s) for many years. She joined GE’s UK & Ireland Women’s Network Leadership team in 2013 and was Co-Hub Leader for the North of England and Scotland Hub for a number of years. Since joining EDF Energy in 2017, Deb has been an active member of the Women In Nuclear network and continues to be a positive Ambassador and role model in the Diversity & Inclusion space.