‘Growing our inclusive culture: Empowering everyone to promote Respect, Kindness and Equity.’
You can now book your place on our Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2025
Following our previous successes, NHSGGC are delighted to be hosting our third Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Conference for people managers on the 14 August 2025, which will be held in the Queen Elizabeth, Teaching and Learning Centre, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Campus.
The day will be opened by Professor Jann Gardner, NHSGGC Chief Executive, followed by an overview of our NHSGGC Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan from Liam Spence, Head of Staff Experience.
Our keynote speaker is Dr Barbara Banda. Barbara is a highly respected diversity and inclusion consultant with extensive experience working across NHS England and Wales. Please visit Dr Barbara Banda‘s YouTube channel to learn more about Barbara’s story and work. Dr Lesley Thomson KC, NHSGGC Board Chair, will provide closing remarks.
Following this there will be a range of breakout sessions taking place to provide attendees with practical tools and techniques to support their staff and embed EDI in their service. Breakouts will include tips on creating psychological safety, tackling hate crime and good practice on leading diverse teams.
Book your place on our Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2025. You’ll have an opportunity to choose your preferred breakouts, and provide any accessibility or dietary requirements.
Please feel free to view the EDI Learning Event Programme and our Frequently Asked Questions.
There will be seven breakout rooms in total, with each attendee having the opportunity to participate in two during the event.
- Gillian Neish (Neish Training) – Creating Psychological Safety
- Kelsey Smith (Equally Safe at Work) – Tackling Gender Inequality in the Workplace
- Lyndsay Brown (Police Scotland) – Supporting Your Team to Tackle Hate Crime
- Stuart Carmichael (Glasgow Centre For Inclusive Living) – Enabling our Disabled Workforce
- Alastair Low (NHSGGC) – The New NHSGGC Equality Scheme (2025-2029): What it means for you
- Anthony Craig (NHSGGC) – Speaking Up and Active Bystander – BOOKINGS CLOSED – NOW AT FULL CAPACITY
- Julie Pearson (NHSGGC) – Civility Saves Lives – Creating a Kinder Workplace
Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Conference 2025 – Breakout Session Summaries
Creating Psychological Safety
Through her consultancy, Neish Training, Gillian works across the UK with individuals and organisations in all sectors to help them fulfil their potential. The focus of her work is power, whether challenging the power inequities of racism, sexism and the other ‘isms’ or developing personal power through personal development programmes. Gillian designed and facilitates NHSGGC’s Leadership Programme for staff from Black and Minority Ethnic communities.
Tackling Gender Inequality
Led by Close the Gap, this session will explore how gender norms and stereotyping about women’s capabilities and interests can result in a segregation in the types of work that men and women do and how these can often underpin violence against women. The term ‘violence against women’ refers to violent and abusive behaviour that is carried out against women, primarily by men, as a result of their gender. This abusive behaviour can be physical, emotional, psychological, sexual or economic and stems from women’s deep-rooted inequality.
Tackling Hate Crime
Police Scotland will lead this session about hate crime, behaviours which are both criminal and rooted in prejudice. The legal definition of hate crime is “any crime which is understood by the victim or any other person as being motivated (wholly or partly) by malice or ill will towards a social group.”
The person experiencing hate does not always need to be in one of these groups. We look at why the act or offence was committed and the perceptions of those involved.
Enabling our Disabled Workforce
The breakout will explore how managers can recruit and support staff with disabilities and help them develop their careers within and beyond NHSGGC. The session will be presented by Stuart Carmichael from the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL), one of our third sector partners who have helped hundreds of disabled people find good, meaningful work.
The New NHSGGC Equality Scheme (2025-2029)
Al Low leads NHSGGC’s Equality and Human Rights Team. Al will introduce you to NHSGGC’s Equality Strategy, published in April 2025 and explain the process used to identify and deliver areas of improvement and the role we all share to help create a fairer NHSGGC.
Speaking Up and Active Bystander – BOOKINGS CLOSED – NOW AT FULL CAPACITY
This session will take you through some of the key principles of Speaking Up and being an Active Bystander, empowering staff across NHSGGC to challenge poor behaviours. Drawing on lessons from our Sexual Harassment: Cut It Out programme, Anthony Craig, Senior EDI Advisor, will show you how, when we challenge poor behaviours, we can shift the boundaries of what is considered acceptable within our culture.
Civility Saves Lives
Civility Saves Lives (CSL) is about how we treat each other at work. The aim of the CSL campaign in NHSGGC is to encourage positive workplace relationships and environments where the culture is improved by promoting the value of kind, caring and respectful interactions. The campaign also aims to raise awareness and understanding of the impact that rude, unprofessional and unproductive behaviour has and how the calling it out with compassion approach can help to address incivility.