LGBTQ+ Staff Forum

  • At Oxford Brookes University, we are committed to ensuring the very best staff experience where our whole community can flourish in a culture of respect and support, where we celebrate difference and thrive on each other’s success. As part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion we have set up a LGBTQ+ Staff Forum.

    The Forum organises social activities, hosts workshops, and provides a programme of events for LGBTQ+ History Month in February every year. The Forum welcomes all staff working at Brookes who identify as LGBTQ+ and allies. If you would like to join the Forum or have any questions or queries, please contact Jayne Stuart: jstuart@brookes.ac.uk or lgbtqplus@brookes.ac.uk

    Members of staff who have experienced homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse, harassment or bullying can email hr-lgbtqplus@brookes.ac.uk for confidential advice. The policy and procedure on harassment and bullying provides information about advice and support for staff and students.

    To help promote the diversity of our community at Oxford Brookes, members of the Forum have provided personal experiences of working at the university. Read some of our LGBTQ+ staff profiles »

    Within the Forum we have defined roles, providing points of contact and responsibility for specific areas. See below for the full list.


    • Chair - Jayne Stuart
    • Secretary - Sarah Madden-Queralt
    • Senior staff representative and lead for Stonewall Workplace Equality Index - Roger Dalrymple
    • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion liaison and Wheatley representative - Jane Butcher
    • Student liaison - Hellen Barton
    • Academic and inclusive curriculum liaison - Yue Ang
    • Bi/pan representative - Steph Atherton
    • Training officer - Kate Harford
    • Website coordinator - Megan Roberts
    • Networking coordinator and Swindon representative - Aaron Worsley
    • Harcourt Hill representative - EmJ Scott

  • LGBTQ+ Staff Forum statement on #Black Lives Matter and in support of VCG commitment

    The Oxford Brookes LGBTQ+ Staff Forum welcomes the important statements from the senior leadership of the University since the killing of George Floyd of unequivocal support for Black Lives Matter.

    As a self-organised network for LGBTQ+ staff and their allies within Oxford Brookes we recognise and support the urgent and compelling need for change.

    We give our full backing to the commitment expressed by the Vice-Chancellor’s Group to change in institutional culture and practice, and to listening, learning and tackling racism and racialised inequality head on.

    We further recognise the impacts of intersectional issues of identity and experience within BAME and LGBTQ+ communities, and the ongoing realities of racism and white privilege within LGBTQ+ activism.

    As individuals working together on LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion and in collaboration with colleagues in our BAME Staff Network, we therefore pledge our own commitment to stand up with black communities, the Black Lives Matter movement and to further Antiracism, personally and collectively.

    We will further strengthen and evolve an interconnected approach to these shared goals, which addresses the multilayered experience of BAME LGBTQ+ communities and individuals.

    We will take active steps to ensure that our work is informed by antiracist practice and undertake self-education to demonstrate meaningful solidarity in our own actions and spheres of influence.

    We will seek to support all colleagues and leaders within our University in their commitments to race equality and to making Oxford Brookes the fully inclusive community we aspire to be.

  • Terms of Reference

    The LGBTQ+ Staff Forum has been established to support members of staff in their working lives and to promote awareness of issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity within the workplace. The term LGBTQ+ refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning plus all other sexual orientations and non-conforming gender identities and is a term we use to make the Staff Forum as inclusive as possible.

    The broad aims of the Forum are to:

    • Represent the views of LGBTQ+ staff and support all members of staff across the University with issues relating to LGBTQ+.
    • Provide a gateway of support and assistance to LGBTQ+ staff.
    • Enable LGBTQ+ staff to contribute to policy development and review or propose matters for consideration
    • Provide a consultation forum for the University to gather views on particular developments or new initiatives.

    Members usually meet over lunch on a regular basis and it is an opportunity for LGBTQ+ staff to get to know colleagues from across the University.

    A small steering group (consisting of Forum members), with the assistance of the EDI Adviser (Staff), will determine key issues that require discussion and action. Meetings will be arranged as necessary and the Forum will organise at least one event each year eg during LGBTQ+ History Month.

    The Forum may also assist in prioritising issues and actions relevant to LGBTQ+ staff in liaison with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group.

    The University is a Stonewall Diversity Champion and occasionally our Stonewall Account Manager will attend meetings to provide support and guidance as necessary.

    Please note that the identity of Forum members will, so far as is reasonably practicable, be kept confidential.


    July 2020