Turing Gender Equality Plan 2024 – 2025

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Introduction

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to advancing gender equality within our Institute, through our research and across the wider data science and artificial intelligence sectors. We understand that to make great leaps in data science and artificial intelligence to change the world for the better, we need to ensure a diverse and inclusive research community are supported.

In September 2021, the Institute launched its first EDI strategy and accompanying action plan. This strategy and action plan provide a statement of what we want to achieve and the roadmap as to how we will get there. In 2023 the Institute released its first Gender Pay Gap Report and an accompanying Action Plan focused on improving gender equality holistically within the Institute. In preparing our Gender Equality Plan, we have drawn on our existing frameworks and action plans. Where relevant we have provided references to existing actions and publications.

CEO Statement

Since its founding in 2015 the Alan Turing Institute has played a pivotal role in working with the UK community to harness data science and AI technologies for the public good. In 2021 with the publication of our first EDI Strategy we made explicit our commitment to ensuring a diverse community of practitioners conducting inclusive research for the benefit of all. While gender equality matters in all areas of life, we recognise that the data science and artificial intelligence community is an area where progress is particularly needed.

I am pleased to share this Gender Equality Plan, which reflects our commitment to gender equality, alongside that of other under-represented groups. 

Jean Innes

CEO

How we meet the mandatory Horizon Europe requirements

Publication

The Institute manages objectives and actions related to gender equality through its two current, published action plans both supported by our CEO and senior leadership and shared widely within our community. Both action plans are regularly reviewed and will be refreshed and renewed upon their respective end dates. 

The Gender Pay Gap Action Plan details seven key objectives and associated actions and measures. The objectives are:

  1. Ensuring equal employment conditions for men and women at the Turing
  2. Increasing proportion of women in research roles
  3. Increasing proportion of women in senior/leadership roles
  4. Supporting the development of women at the Turing
  5. Tackling the care penalty
  6. Tackling barriers faced by women at work
  7. Outreach activities to increase proportion of women in the data science and AI talent pipeline.

The EDI Action Plan lists a further seven objectives of a broader nature and respective actions, many of which relate to gender equality. 

  1. Provide visible leadership on diversity, promoting the benefits of inclusive practices at a national level
  2. Embrace an inclusive approach to research and innovation, recognising the intrinsic value in diversity of thought
  3. Embed a workplace culture, policies and practices that empower all members of the Institute’s community to achieve their full potential
  4. Provide communications and engagement activities that promote the Institute externally and internally as inclusive and welcoming to all
  5. Adopt an inclusive approach to facilities management and our digital space, taking all reasonable steps to improve accessibility for staff, students and visitors
  6. Promote equality, diversity and inclusion through a socially responsible approach to procurement
  7. Ensure systematic consideration of EDI in our planning and compliance with legislative requirements

Dedicated resources

Our EDI framework is designed to ensure that the Turing’s commitment to EDI  is translated into measurable positive progress against the objectives set out in this strategy.

Staff across the Alan Turing Institute, including its senior leadership, are committed to advancing gender equality. At board level the Remuneration, EDI and People Committee (REPCo) holds the Institute to account on its performance on EDI. RepCo is chaired by a Trustee who champions EDI at the main Board of Trustees, and other members are from the main board. The Institute’s Strategic  Lead for EDI attends to provide updates on progress against agreed actions and report on other EDI issues. In addition, a yearly report on EDI within the Turing is  presented to the REPCo and circulated to the Board of Trustees.

The EDI Management Team (including colleagues in both research and business operations roles) are responsible for managing the delivery of the action  plan with overall responsibility for the success of the plan owned by the Executive Leadership Team. The EDI Advisory Group are responsible for shaping and coordinating the EDI strategy and ensuring timely progress.

The Institute has set up network groups  which act as ‘critical friends’ to the Institute and to provide staff with the opportunity to contribute to the developing EDI agenda. The network groups will identify and suggest ways to address any barriers to the progress of  disadvantaged groups. Groups will be led by a Network Group Chair/Co-Chair who receive a stipend in recognition of their contribution. The Turing currently has four Network Groups covering Disability and Wellbeing, Gender equality, LGBTQ+ equality and Race equality.

Data collection and monitoring

The Institute collects and publishes a range of demographic data including data related to sex and gender. We publish details of our wider community, including staff, students, Fellows and event and activity participants in our EDI Annual Report. For student and competitive programmes we provide details of success rates based on gender. In our Gender Pay Gap Report we provide details of employees by sex, contract length, pay band, performance related pay and progression rates as well as the statutory UK gender pay gap reporting.

EDI Action Plan: Actions 1.3, 3.1, 2.3 and 3.2

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan: Actions 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 3b, 4b

Training

The Turing runs a dedicated EDI Learning and Development Programme (EDI L&D) as part of our broader Learning and Development offering. The EDI L&D Programme's sessions are open to everyone in the Turing community and have been designed to focus on learning about new or unfamiliar topics in a safe environment. Senior staff are required to participate in relevant EDI learning and development which. 

Our introductory training “EDI: Your rights, your role” covers unconscious bias including gender biases as well as discrimination and an understanding of the legal landscape. For hiring managers, we run a two part recruitment training focused on best practice in recruitment including avoiding bias and removing barriers. In addition in 2023 and 2024 we will be running specific a Menopause Awareness workshop for the community. The above examples highlight some of the sessions currently offered. 

EDI Action Plan: Actions 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9. 

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan: Actions 6a. 

Gender equality plan: Action on thematic areas

In addition to meeting the mandatory process-related requirements, we are committed across all five of the thematic areas recommended by the European Commission. These are:

Work-life balance and organisational culture

The Institute supports a positive organisational culture and work life balance through a range of policies and actions including our Flexible Working Policy and an enhanced pay offer for maternity, paternity and shared parental leave. The Institute has previously hosted two Daphne Jackson Fellows, a scheme to support those returning to work after a career break.  We work with our Gender Equality Network to conduct awareness raising activities throughout the year including highlighting women at the Turing and recognising key events. Embedding Equality Impact Assessments into our employee policy reviews will help ensure that there are no inadvertent barriers to any groups of staff in respect of recruitment, development and retention.

In addition the Institute is committed to the following actions:

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

  • Action 5a: Review of job adverts with a particular focus on supporting those with caring responsibilities
  • Action 5c: Create a parental/carer return to work support package.
  • Action 5d: Shared parental leave awareness campaign.
  • Action 5h: Review parental leave policy.

EDI Action Plan

  • Action 1.6 Positive and visible leadership on EDI from Board of Trustees, TMT & Programme Directors
  • Action 3.5 Review of employment practices
  • Action 3.6 Support and engage with network groups to promote an inclusive culture

Gender balance in leadership and decision-making

Increasing the number and share of women in leadership and decision-making positions touches upon all aspects in the GEP. Measures to ensure that women can take on and stay in leadership positions can include providing decision-makers with targeted gender training, adapting processes for selection and appointment of staff on committees, ensuring gender balance through gender quotas, and making committee membership more transparent.

The Turing is committed to ensuring diversity among leaders and decision makers. The Alan Turing Institute annually reports on the proportion of men and women in each pay band through its Gender Pay Gap Report. In 2020 the Institute increased the number of independent trustees appointed to its Board increasing the diversity and breadth of experience on the Board. The Turing’s Executive Leadership Team includes senior colleagues from across the Institute and balanced representation of men and women. The Institute recognises this is a key area of focus and has committed to the following actions:

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

  • Action 3a: Encourage recruitment and review panels (including for PRP awards) to have diverse representation (gender, ethnicity, disability) by offering training.
  • Action 3b: Review of recruitment data for band 5 and 6 roles to identify causes of low representation.
  • Action 3c: Visibility of senior women at Turing.

EDI Action Plan

  • Action 1.4 Board of Trustees to adopt measures to enhance the diversity of its membership
  • Action 1.5 Nomination of a Board lead on diversity, and training for Board members on diversity and inclusion
  • Action 1.6 Positive and visible leadership on EDI from Board of Trustees, TMT & Programme Directors
  • Action 1.7 Adopt measures to increase the diversity of the research leadership

Gender equality in recruitment and career progression

The Institute continues to improve and evolve our recruitment processes learning from best practice across the sector. The Institute routinely uses specialist job sites to encourage applications from women and promotes diverse interview panels. All hiring managers are required to follow our Recruitment Policy and attend training in advance of chairing a recruitment panel. Performance related pay (PRP) decisions are made by review panels which feature gender diversity and the Institute reports on the gender balance of PRP awards in our Gender Pay Gap Report. The Institute takes active steps to monitor career progression and recruitment practices through regular reviews of internal data. The Institute runs an in house leadership programme, Turing Advance, for colleagues from backgrounds currently underrepresented in leadership positions in our sector. In addition, the Institute has committed to the following actions:

Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

  • Action 1a: Yearly reporting on: - PRP awards by gender - Starting salary awards by gender - Distribution of men and women within pay bands - Fixed vs permanent contract arrangements
  • Action 1b: Departmental breakdowns of PRP awards shared with Directors. Patterns and concerns discussed with EDI team.
  • Action 1c: Departmental breakdowns of starting salary awards shared with Directors. Patterns and concerns discussed with EDI team.
  • Action 1d: Departmental breakdowns of fixed vs. permanent contract shared with Directors. Patterns and concerns discussed with EDI team.
  • Action 1e: Conduct Equal Pay Audit of all roles.
  • Action 1f: Develop processes and programmes to offer better job security to staff on fixed term contracts.
  • Action 2a: 6-month marketing pilot to increase applications from women to research roles.
  • Action 3a: Encourage recruitment and review panels (including for PRP awards) to have diverse representation (gender, ethnicity, disability) by offering training.
  • Action 3b: Review of recruitment data for band 5 and 6 roles to identify causes of low representation.
  • Action 4a: Turing Advance programme offering additional support on top of ALP and MDP programmes.
  • Action 4b: Review of percentage of external training requests granted by gender.
  • Action 4c: Offer career planning workshops for those early on in their careers.

EDI Action Plan

  • Action 3.2: Annual workforce report to identify areas for action
  • Action 3.3: Review recruitment procedures to identify any gaps in best practice or anomalies, and agree actions
  • Action 3.4: Adopt a competency framework to ensure a clear progression path for all roles
  • Action 3.8: Promote equal access to training and staff development

Integration of the gender dimension into research

The Institute champions the use of data science and artificial intelligence for public good. Our EDI strategy states that “We will consider how we can promote EDI through the research we conduct and our research programme areas, championing research that’s mitigating bias and harm in the development and deployment of data science and AI technologies, from data representativeness to algorithmic fairness, to inclusive data science and AI teams”. In this way, much of our work around safe and ethical AI use contributes to better integrating the gender dimension into research.

From our Public Policy programme and as part of the UK’s National AI Strategy, the AI Standard Hub’s mission is to advance trustworthy and responsible AI with a focus on the role that standards can play as governance tools and innovation mechanisms. The Ethics team focuses on advancing pacesetting basic research into the ethical and social implications of the design and use of AI and data-intensive technologies. Outputs include guidance on AI ethics and safety for the public sector and the development of the SUM Values and FAST principles for safe and ethical AI use. More directly, the Women in Data Science and AI theme works alongside policy makers and industry stakeholders, offering actionable insights and recommendations to tackle the multifaceted ethical, economic and governance-related issues stemming from inequalities in AI. Outputs include reports on the gender job gap in AI and the under-represented nature of women in the AI venture capital field. 

Within our Tools, Practices and Systems Programme, the Turing Way provides a handbook on making data science more accessible, diverse and collaborative. Internally, the Turing embeds these approaches into our own research through our internal Turing Research Ethics Policy (TREx).  In addition the Institute has committed to the following actions:

EDI Action Plan

  • Action 1.8: Active discussion and leadership on EDI themes in research community and within wider public
  • Action 2.2: Promote development and adoption of latest EDI best practice research into Turing practices 

Measures against gender-based violence including sexual harassment

The Institute has clear policies in place against gender based violence and sexual harassment including a Bullying and Harassment Policy and Institute Code of Conduct. In addition, the Institute sets standards for expected behaviour through the promotion of the Turing Values. Furthermore our Safeguarding Policy provides specific information on domestic violence and available support.

In addition, the Institute has adopted the ‘Report and Support’ online system to provide all members of the Institute community with an additional means of reporting inappropriate behaviour and getting support. This allows us to take specific action when incidents are reported, as well as have a broader understanding of the experiences of our community and implement training, policy and intervention to further promote respectful behaviour and an inclusive working environment at the Institute.

EDI Action Plan

  • Action 3.5: Review of employment practices