I am pleased to support EmbRace in this new role. My commitment to equality began at home. My mother, an American academic, spoke openly about the segregated schools she observed in the United States in the early 1950s and about the discrimination she encountered in her own career. Hearing those experiences as a child formed my understanding of how deep inequalities can run and how strongly they can shape people’s lives and opportunities. That early influence has stayed with me throughout my working life.
Much of my academic work has focused on inequality. I first studied development economics because I wanted to understand why disparities between groups and countries persist. I later moved into philosophy, studying theories of justice and the different forms that inequality can take. My research has explored distributive inequality, relational inequality, and procedural inequality, especially in the context of health. These interests have given me a long-standing concern with fairness, with how decisions are made, and with the conditions people need to succeed.
In my role at LSE, I now help shape how we recruit academic staff and how we support their development once they join us. My responsibility is:
- To attract people from a wide range of backgrounds and to ensure that our processes allow them to thrive.
- To work with HR and with staff networks because these questions matter for Professional Services colleagues as well.
- To look closely at the structures and practices that may prevent people from progressing, and to work with others to improve them.
I have a lot to learn about the specific barriers faced by ethnic minority colleagues in the workplace. That is one of the reasons I value this role and I’m going to support EmbRace by:
- Listening, learning, and understanding what stands in the way of equal opportunity at LSE.
- Contributing to changes that can make people's opportunities more equal.
LSE has a long history as a place where people who faced discrimination came to study, teach, question established ideas, and push for better futures. I hope to help continue that tradition. I look forward to working closely with EmbRace members and contributing to the work already underway to build a more inclusive School for all.
Alex Voorhoeve, Vice President and Pro Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development, LSE