The EASE DEI Committee have been looking at our EASE membership and leadership data, and analysing how we are doing with our DEI objectives. They hope to create a baseline from the data we already have, from which to monitor our progress against a set of formalised goals. Read their piece by Pavel Ovseiko and Charoula Tzanakou.
The EASE Association strives to be a socially-just community that welcomes, values, and celebrates all who seek to contribute to its mission. Collecting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) data is essential for understanding the diversity of our membership and fostering an inclusive environment for everyone. DEI data helps us identify areas for improvement, tailor our initiatives, track our progress, and make EASE more representative.
EASE membership has grown steadily from 2018 to 2024, and is diversifying —ranging from standard and group members to individual students, retirees, and sponsored participants. The UK leads in membership numbers, followed by Croatia, Turkey, and Ukraine, reflecting strong regional engagement, particularly in Eastern Europe. Continued efforts to broaden geographic representation remain a priority.
EASE’s future plans are ambitious and well-structured. They include segmenting audiences by role (e.g., authors, editors, reviewers), redefining member benefits, and creating targeted content, resources and communication materials. New initiatives such as institutional memberships and expanded access to the Learning Hub aim to broaden reach and inclusivity.
Gender and age data show a fairly balanced representation in our membership, but there are data limitations. Based on the information entered by members into their profiles during registration on the EASE portal, we know that our members are based across nearly 50 countries, slightly over 50% of members are women, and the majority of members are aged between 40 and 60 years. Yet, for many members this information is incomplete. Based on 139 responses to the survey of members in May 2024, it appears that two-thirds of our members identify themselves as white and a third as Asian, Middle Eastern, and other groups. Yet, these responses represent approximately 24% of our members. Thus, more granular data on gender, age, ethnicity and career stage could provide further insights into how we can tailor, monitor and target our activities to make EASE more inclusive.
To gain more comprehensive insights into the demographics of our members, we would like to ask everyone applying for or renewing their EASE membership, to provide information on their DEI characteristics, such as country of residence, age, gender, disability, ethnicity, and linguistic diversity. The DEI Committee will analyse and share this information in an aggregated and anonymised form via the EASE newsletter. The DEI Committee will exclusively use this information to set a baseline from which to monitor progress towards diversity and inclusion goals, identify areas that require improvement, and develop tailored initiatives.
Please rest assured that all information you provide will be treated confidentially in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, stored securely, and only accessible to the authorised DEI Committee members.
Written by Pavel Ovseiko and Charoula Tzanakou, with input from other members of the EASE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee