History Find out how we started and how we've grown

EDIS started as an idea for a collaboration in 2016​. It was an idea to break down barriers between organisations in science and health research for equality, diversity and inclusion work. Since then we’ve hosted events, grown, developed, driven change, shared resources and have big ambitions for the future.

EDIS was posed as a solution to a problem. The science and health research sector wasn’t working collaboratively or effectively to improving its equality, diversity and inclusivity. There were many excellent pockets of activity and progress, but organisations (especially different ‘types’ of organisations) weren’t talking to each other, learning from each other or sharing evidence, leading to replication and slow progress. 

Improving equality, diversity and inclusion benefits the whole science and health research sector, so EDIS offers a way to collaborate and drive positive change. Cross-sector collaboration and evidence-driven action still underpins the way EDIS works today.

September 2016

The idea

The idea of a collaboration between Wellcome, The Francis Crick Institute and GSK to share knowledge, support and projects to improve EDI in science and health was initially posed in September 2016 by the LGBT+ network leads of each organisation. This coordinated approach to improve the sector, breaking down silos between funders, research institutes and industry, underpins EDIS's approach today.
September 2016
January 2017

The organising committee

An event was agreed upon to share data, interventions, good practice and align the sector. This wouldn't have been possible without the incredible support of volunteers from each organisation who worked throughout 2017 to bring everything together: Charlotte Baidoo, Lauren Couch, Leigh Felton, Louise Howitt, Lilian Hunt, Julia Hubbard, Anne O'Garra, Jim Smith, Gillian Tannahill, and Harriet Taylor.
January 2017
September 2017

The EDIS Symposium 2017

The inaugural EDIS symposium was held at The Francis Crick Institute on 5th September 2017. Over 250 attendees representing over 50 organisations spent the day hearing from and engaging with expert speakers, panellists and most importantly, each other. We shared interventions that organisations could take away such as unconscious bias training and reverse diverse mentoring, and discussed the benefits and limitations of benchmarks, charter marks and indices. We listened to our audience and knew we had to continue this work in some form.
September 2017
November 2017

The scoping work

After the success of the 2017 EDIS Symposium, Wellcome and GSK co-funded Lilian Hunt to research, scope and develop the vision, mission, theory of change and outcomes for EDIS, as well as potential organisational structures. Lilian worked with representatives from Wellcome (Lauren Couch & Jim Smith), GSK (Liz Burton & Annette Doherty) and The Francis Crick Institute (Beatrice Mikuzi, James Turner & Anne O'Garra).
November 2017
September 2018

The launch workshop

In September 2018, the three founding organisations hosted a workshop with over 30 organisations in attendance. They presented our provisional strategy, primary aims and associated actions, as well as how more organisations could now become a part of the coalition. EDIS committed to building a powerful, connected and coordinated movement to advance EDI in science and health research. We also used the workshop to allow the sector to reflect on our scope and strategy and highlight their priorities and ambitions.
September 2018
January 2019

Collective priorities

In January 2019, the EDIS membership collectively agreed to work on two priority areas: 'inclusive conferences & events' and 'inclusive research and experimental design'. These would be demonstrated at the next EDIS symposium and each member organisation started work on updating or creating new policies, practices and knowledge sharing aligned with these goals. Interviews were conducted with each organisation to better understand their approach and how to align strategies and this learning is now embedded in this website.
January 2019
September 2019

The EDIS Symposium 2019

In September 2019, the second EDIS Symposium was held at The Francis Crick Institute on the topic: Inclusive Research and Experimental Design. Topics covered the intersects between who does research, how research is done, and who benefits from research. Sessions included: Diversity, decision-making and biomedical bubbles; Inclusive research priority setting; The sex and gender dimensions in research; Diversity in clinical trials and AI; Ethnicity and ancestry in genomics; BAME participation in health research; and Involved research communications.
September 2019
May 2020

The Development Phase

With EDIS growing to 17 organisations, its next phase of development began in May 2020. EDIS formally became hosted by Wellcome and the first 5 members of the Development Board were elected. The Development Board will help streamline decision making and enable EDIS to mature as an organisation.
May 2020