As the temporary lead for diversity and inclusivity, I was honoured to facilitate the ‘Let's hear it from our members - EDI’ session, a first for me. It was unquestionable that this session would generate a lot of discussion as diversity and inclusivity has garnered a lot of momentum in the last year.

Suraj Gandhi as the prestigious oral presentation (POP) winner gave a very insightful presentation on the topic titled ‘Representation of pigmented skin in dermatology education: what are medical students' perception’? It was evident from this presentation that more work was needed to advance this effort as there were clear deficits identified within the curriculum.

Following the POP presentation, from the discussions that took place with panel members and indeed with members in the meeting chat, there were five areas identified within my reflection of the session. There was an acknowledgement that most of the panellists had encountered certain barriers when working on their specific initiatives, with a lot of these borne from issues that were inherent to the system itself; thus, greater support was needed for any ongoing diversity and inclusivity effort. From an organisational perspective, there was a call for there to be the provision of a safe space where people felt empowered to have uncomfortable and difficult conversations without fear of any repercussions. It is only through having these difficult conversations that we can truly start the much-needed cultural shift. Moreover, a reflection on my part from some of the discussions with panellists was the need for us within our organisations to genuinely take more ‘action’ as opposed to just expressing platitudes. It is clear that in the current climate, there has been a shift in attitude with people from marginalised and underrepresented groups, allies and advocates feeling empowered to call for action so there is the need to listen to these voices with great intent. That said, part of our discussion led us to the fact that in seeking the ‘student voice’ we may be unintentionally causing student fatigue. As a reflection, we do need to be more creative and seek better ways of involving the student voice without saturating them. The final area identified was the need for role models with students expressing the wish to see more people like themselves in positions of responsibility, a point that I can personally relate to as an ethnic minority working in a STEM subject.

Overall, whilst there is still a long way to go in ensuring that we are fully engaging in promoting equity, diversity and inclusivity within our respective organisations, I am encouraged that these important discussions are taking place across the board. Indeed, there are excellent initiatives to be marvelled upon as was clear from the work that the panellists were involved in.