Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Calendar 2025/2026

Monthly News - January 2026

Spotlight on Wikipedia Day

Largely hailed as the world’s largest free online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia is a fast-growing database of crowd-sourced information. Authorship is collaborative, and thousands of people across the world contribute to sustaining the platform to ensure the content is accurate and up to date.

Whilst any information can be added by anyone at any time, multiple volunteers regularly moderate the site which includes removing or flagging content which does not have a verified source or is not deemed notable. 

Whilst not an obvious area of equality concern, in recent years there have been campaigns to diversify the breadth of individuals profiled on the site. Most famously, the campaign by the physicist Dr Jess Wade, to increase the numbers of women in science and technology who have a Wikipedia page after noting disparity in who was featured as a notable contributor to advancements in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM). Dr Wade maintained a daily action of adding a new page or enhancing an existing partial entry (‘stub’) for a woman in a STEMM role or who had made a significant contribution to the field. The ‘Wiki Women in Red’ project has expanded this beyond STEMM professionals into calling for recognition of women who have made notable achievements in other sectors including the arts and humanities.

It is not just women who are underrepresented, there is similar racial bias observed in the profiles of featured notable individuals, contributors and coverage of historical events, whilst LGBTQ+ biographies are often targeted in ‘editing wars’, notably with regards to pronoun use. 

One call has been to increase the diversity of individuals who contribute to writing content on the site, to support the diversity in representation of individuals and events featured on the platform. The reasoning of ‘homophily’ where people tend to have greater awareness of people who share their characteristics, has been offered as one reason for the bias which presents. Another action to improve diversity has been to conduct ‘Wiki hackathons’ on significant awareness and celebratory days relating to underrepresented identities with the aim to improve representation and recognition.

What this day means to me:

It was a few years ago when I learned of the gender bias in the representation of notable people across Wikipedia. What I found most interesting was how that impacted on not only the recognition of the contributions of individuals but the perception of who is making significant achievements. ‘We can’t be what we can’t see’ is a common phrase used when working to encourage younger generations into careers where people who share their characteristics are underrepresented. When individuals are not given high-prominence for their accomplishments, this visible role-modelling is further removed.

I began running wiki hackathons to support the diversification of biographies featured on the platform, to increase the number of featured biographies, expand relevant content and encourage the submission of licence-free photographs which could be used now or in the future to supplement biographies (pages with photographs have greater engagement). Similar campaigns have made great improvements but there is still a need for sustained efforts. 

Wikipedia bios place emphasis on notability of the subject. The question of notability gives rise to subjectivity and when people are otherwise under-reported in wider society or their contributions are noted in sources not deemed suitable by editors, their contributions are less likely to be featured in Wikipedia. As such new biographies or content are scrutinised for how they meet the notability criteria and are frequently deleted or flagged, impeding equality efforts. As with many other equality campaigns, diversifying the collective who are involved and contributing to content helps remove bias from the process and invites diversity of insight and, in the case of Wikipedia, increases awareness of the achievements of many hidden figures. 

The more people who get involved in updating information on Wikipedia and adding notable people who are making significant contributions to society, the more accurate the representation becomes. Think of someone who has inspired you, or interests you and see if they have a Wikipedia page or a stub which you can add to. You may even choose to start with the Women in Red list (red links on Wikipedia refer to a page not yet created, but recognised as a notable person or topic). You can then do some research on them and add content on the platform to help others learn more about their work and contributions.

2025/2026 calendar

Our EDI calendar can help create an inclusive work and study environment, it can also inspire students, staff and visitors to take part in key celebrations and/or remembrance events.

The calendar highlights faith days observed or celebrated, key diversity days, awareness raising dates and public holidays.

It also focuses on the six main religions as identified in the Census of England and Wales; Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, All other religions and beliefs not included on the calendar are equally as valued and considered across our work.

Please note: The dates in the calendar were correct at the time of publication in December 2025.

To provide feedback on the calendar, please contact [email protected]