The Social History Society committee has agreed the creation of a new honorary officer role for EDI.

The EDI Officer will be elected to a three year term in the first instance and be a member of the Social History Society Executive. They will lead work around equalities, diversity and inclusion inside the society and within the wider disciplines of social and cultural history. This is a strategic priority for the Social History Society and signals our commitment to supporting the historical profession to become more inclusive, including in areas of historical under-representation and disadvantage owing to race and ethnicity, migrant status, disability, neuro-diversity, career stage, parental status, class, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

The creation of this new role builds on previous work including our contribution to research on structural inequalities and racism, and gender inequalities, within the historical profession in partnership with the Royal Historical Society. In 2019, we set up a BME Small Grants scheme on behalf of eight learned societies. In 2020, we created a Hardship Scheme for early-career historians whose research was affected by the pandemic.

The EDI Officer will help to ensure our annual conference is as accessible as possible and support SHS to advance equality and address disadvantage through our various grants, prizes and bursary schemes.  The EDI Officer will also become a member of the independent judging panel for the BME Small Grants scheme, which is administered by SHS. Outside this broad remit, we envisage the EDI Officer having the freedom to shape this new role and welcome candidates with such a vision.

Nominations for the new role are now open. We welcome applications from people at any career stage, working within or outside the university sector.