The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management is the leading professional membership body representing and supporting ecologists and environmental managers in the UK, Ireland and abroad.
In 2023:
In 2023, CIEEM focused our Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work toward accessibility by examining how we can better embrace neuroinclusivity. Through focusing on this intersectional topic, we aimed to engage with our current members whilst working to address barriers through practical steps such as reshaping the accessibility of our membership application process.
CIEEM continued working with our members and partners to raise awareness of EDI issues within our profession. We ran social media engagement focusing on issues relating to EDI in our sector. This included additional promotion around the Green Jobs for Nature initiative, to achieve this CIEEM hired a dedicated Green Jobs for Nature Outreach Assistant through the New to Nature scheme.
CIEEM continued to keep progress on our Championing Change Agenda visible. We gave members a voice on this issue through blogs, vlogs, social media, and by dedicating the September issue of InPractice solely to ‘Diversity, Accessibility & Capacity in the sector. This issue explored the people element of our profession. We promoted submissions on improving EDI in the sector, removing barriers to enter the profession and creating new routes into the sector, addressing capacity issues and skills shortages in the sector, and improving the status and standing of the profession.
The response to this work in 2023 has been good but we know there is still more work to do both for neuroinclusivity and wider EDI issues within our sector.
In 2024:
In 2024 CIEEM will turn our focus to addressing one of the main challenges to achieving our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) commitments, namely, the lack of diversity (in respect of some protected characteristics) across our sector which has, at times, made it challenging to draw on lived experiences of members to inform our work.
CIEEM will continue working with our members and partners to raise awareness of EDI issues within our profession.
We will run workshops and social media engagement with our partner organisations focusing on issues relating to EDI in our sector. This will include continued promotion around the Green Jobs for Nature initiative, including recruiting Green Jobs for Nature Champions and Influencers to bolster this initiative and increase the reach of the campaign.
CIEEM will continue to keep progress on our Championing Change Agenda visible by amplifying our member’s voices on this issue through blogs, vlogs, social media, and our podcast ‘Nature in a Nutshell.’
We will continue to be a part of change.