Grace Choi explains more about her plans to do so following her recent election to Regional Council
Thank you to all members for the support and encouragement as I embark on the challenge of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion champion for the RIBA North East. It’s a broad role, encompassing many hot issues that directly affect us as a profession. My hope is that we can approach issues in a balanced and progressive way, encouraging change and being exemplary to the wider construction community.
As the new Equality, Diversity & Inclusion lead, I’m keen to build on the strong start the RIBA North East has made to date. Last year, we celebrated Ethel Day with an inspiring pecha kucha event, took part in a RIBA womens’ focus group and launched the successful Faces of Architecture campaign celebrating diversity across the profession.
To make further progress, it’s important to ask the right questions. How do we highlight, support and encourage all individuals in practice, no matter what race, gender, orientation, disability or religion? How do we help architectural practices address issues better, particularly those hidden deep within our profession? As a region, I believe we can collectively ‘change the record’ and will be looking to gather a small group together to investigate tangible ways to make a difference.
Looking into the New Year and coinciding with International Women’s day, RIBA North East will be putting on an exciting event in early March to explore, challenge and address issues of gender diversity in practice. We want to hear from practices that lead by example and would be able present a short talk on ideas, suggestions and inspiration about how we can ‘change the record’ to recruit, retain and promote a more gender diverse profession. Please get in contact with Grace (info@gracechoi.co.uk) or Kate Aldred (kate.aldred@riba.org).
