When it comes to EDI in higher education, it is rare that the intent is lacking. What is often missing is follow-through in the everyday moments that make up an inclusive culture. Instead, processes default to habit and data sits unseen. With competing priorities, people with the best of intentions can still drift back to business-as-usual.
That is why I have found nudges so useful. A nudge is a small change to how choices are presented or how a decision environment is designed, so that the inclusive option becomes easier to take. It does not remove freedom or force compliance. It reduces friction, sharpens attention and, simply, makes the good path a little smoother.
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In practice, this approach can sit alongside Race Equality Charter implementation within the broader EDI agenda. The aim is not to replace governance, policy or culture work, but to support them, using repeatable prompts that show up at the moments that matter. Below are five tips I share for educators who want change you can see in daily practice.
1) Commit by making leadership attention automatic
Commitment becomes credible when it is visible and regular. One of the simplest nudges is to protect leadership attention with structure. An annual public update on EDI and Race Equality Charter progress should be treated as a standing institutional commitment, not an optional expression of good intent. When it is in the calendar, it is likely to happen.
A second commitment nudge is procedural. EDI is most effective when embedded into routine planning, including governance documentations like council/senate reports, through annual plan templates with a dedicated EDI objectives section, making inclusion a default expectation.
2) Communicate using social proof and positive framing
Communication is where nudges can be both light and powerful. Social proof can be used to improve uptake in confidential staff surveys to understand staff experience, by acknowledging early participants and signalling that engagement is becoming the norm. A simple line such as: “55 per cent have already taken part” reassures colleagues that people like them are participating.
In practice, inclusion can be strengthened through language choices and by spotlighting diverse success stories in newsletters and commemorative events like Black History Month, Chinese New Year, Diwali celebrations and Race Equality Week, linking inclusion with excellence.
3) Build capability by putting learning into the flow of work
People cannot do what they do not feel equipped to do. Capability grows when support is practical and built into routine. A good approach is to introduce micro-learning into existing routines. For example, departmental meetings include an “EDI spotlight” from EDI leads/champions or department head, delivered in a few minutes but repeated often to normalise continuous learning.
And it is helpful to use default enrolment for relevant training, such as online unconscious bias modules for deans, heads of department, or other recruitment decision-makers. People can opt out – but most don’t, because it is positioned as a standard step. The wider principle is simple: if you want inclusive practice, lower friction by placing prompts and tools in everyday workflows, then reviewing outcomes regularly.
4) Shape culture through cues in everyday environments
A culture shifts when inclusive behaviour becomes normal, not exceptional. Nudges can support that by changing what people repeatedly see. Use staff intranet and communications spaces to keep EDI activity visible, including small prompts, and encourage everyday inclusion. The point is not to police behaviour, but to normalise attention.
Physical and digital environments matter too. The images, stories and achievements that appear across campuses, websites and institutional communications may seem minor, but they quietly shape first impressions and perceptions of who is visible, who is valued and who is imagined as belonging within the university community.
Induction also matters. First impressions of university life can go a long way in shaping whether people feel they belong. When community, teamwork and mutual support are emphasised from the outset, newcomers are more likely to connect with others, especially those who may be quietly wondering whether this is a place for them.
5) Continue with feedback loops and recognition
EDI work fades when it relies on one burst of energy at the start. Continuous use of nudges is about making progress visible and reflection routine, for example the use of a simple annual inclusion dashboard shared with department heads, highlighting a small set of indicators such as diversity of new hires, committee composition and belonging signals. The aim is not to shame, but to make patterns easy to see. When data is visible, it is harder to ignore.
Continuation is cultural too. Teams that try new EDI ideas can be recognised through routine channels such as newsletters, helping to keep the tone constructive and to encourage experimentation. Periodic check-ins can also help, guided by two simple questions: what worked and what comes next? Knowing that these conversations will happen helps make planning, reflection and learning a regular expectation rather than a one-off exercise.
EDI progress is often constrained by competing priorities within institutions like teaching and research excellence, uncertainty across the sector and the quiet pull of habit. Nudges do not remove those realities. They work with them, translating intention into action through small design choices that make inclusive practice easier to choose, again and again.
If you want to start, do not wait for the perfect strategy. Choose one decision point, add one nudge, make the change visible, learn from it and build the next one.
Teslim O. Bukoye is associate professor and Race Equality Charter lead at the University of Bath.
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