The GESGB Office Team, Executive Council and Conferences Board are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Within the membership we monitor the age and gender of our members as well as geographic location, to ensure we are improving the diversity of the membership as the Society responds to trends in the industry. We recognise there is much that we do not currently capture around disability, religion and ethnicity, this may come in time. As part of the promotion of under-represented groups in our conferences and member events, we actively encourage participation from, and give additional support to, those who are widely under-represented and we have seen some success with this approach.
The GESGB Office Team are currently all female which is unusual within the Energy Industries but not as rare within Association Management. We are diverse in age, ethnicity and country of origin and as we are a remote team, we are located both the UK and in Europe.
The GESGB Office Team, Council and Board work hard to ensure EDI is considered within all aspects of conferencing and events and that measures are put in place to ensure both accessibility and comfort for all sections of the Society, when they access the membership benefits. When scheduling events, we consult a diversity calendar to factor in relevant religious and cultural events to ensure our potential audience have as much opportunity to participate as possible.
There is still work to do, but the GESGB is committed to staging conferences and offering benefits to members that provide equality of access, relevance to diverse audiences, and a hearty welcome to all those interested in ‘the advancement for the public benefit, education in the scientific and technical aspects of subsurface energy and related technologies’.
Please review the GESGB ‘All Welcome Guide‘ which informs the staging of our events. We hope you find this guide as valuable, beneficial and essential as we do!
If you have suggestions on how we can improve our EDI to ensure all members feel a warm welcome from the Society, please get in touch with maria@ges-gb.org.uk.