Dr Siobhán Dorai-Raj

Siobhán started at the John Innes Centre in 2015 as a Daphne Jackson Fellow in the Molecular Microbiology Department under the supervision of Professor Barrie Wilkinson.

The fellowship allowed her to return to research, on a part-time basis, after a four and a half year break spent looking after her two small children. While working as a postdoc she founded the NBI’s Parent and Carer Group and joined the Inclusivity & Diversity (I&D) committee as the Postdoc Voice rep.

She was so inspired by the work of the I&D committee that she decided on a complete career change and left research in 2018 to work in UEA’s Science Faculty as their Athena Swan and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) project coordinator.

She returned to the John Innes Centre in 2022 as their new EDI Advisor.

Her role is extremely varied and involves leading on the development and delivery of the institute’s Inclusivity and Diversity Strategy and ensuring the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is explicit and embedded in the management of the Institute.

This includes analysing data, monitoring progress against action plans, driving or supporting EDI developments, completing submissions such as the John Innes Centre’s Athena Swan Gold award renewal and supporting the work of the JIC’s staff groups (LGBTQ+ Group, the Parent and Carers’ Group, the Accessibility Advocates, the Race & Ethnicity and Equality & Diversity Group, and the Mental Health and Well-being Group).

She also champions the John Innes Centre’s culture and policies, and researches, benchmarks and shares good practice on EDI matters, both to advise on and inform developments within the Institute and to contribute to John Innes Centre’s EDI beacon activities.