Lorenzo Gheri

“I strongly believe that equality, diversity, and inclusion are central themes for the flourishing of education and society, towards a fairer and better future. Unfortunately, stereotypes, prejudices, and biases---e.g., related to gender, race, sexual orientation, social background, sexual identity, age, or abilities/disabilities---result from historical processes and, hence, they are deeply rooted in our culture. The responsibility to eradicate these falls on cultural institutions, including higher-education institutions like the University of Liverpool. Making education accessible to large segments of society is something I particularly care about. In the past, I conducted volunteer work with inmates enrolled at the university. I would visit these students in their detention centre and help them with their mathematics modules. I saw some of these students successfully graduating. This was confirmation that education and society benefit from fostering talent with no prejudice. It is paramount that we work against the current misconceptions and project a more diverse and inclusive image of (computer) science: ours is a beautiful, timely, enriching, and welcoming discipline for all society, where everybody can contribute and excel, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic background.”