"It is important to realise that inclusion is never complete."

Laura Coello is Advisor Diversity & Inclusion for the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Office of Utrecht University.

"Diversity is just the being of different people: having them present. And inclusion is the strategy wherein you actually try to create a work environment where every single individual feels valued in their uniqueness and at the same time feels an intrinsic part of the team.

I am a woman and I am a migrant. I migrated to the Netherlands when I was 18 years old. So I’ve been through that process of migration and adaptation, and inclusion in this society. And it is clear to me that it is a two-way process. The migrant adapts, but society needs to give space and be welcoming to the newcomers. So that adaptation and integration takes place. I think all of the steps we are doing are good steps. And they are not ad hoc steps. They have been thought of, they are part of the strategy, so I really think we are going towards the right direction.

However, it is important to realise that inclusion is never complete. There will always be new challenges and even new target groups. If you think about diversity as a challenge, you might resent that you have to change yourself in order to have a more inclusive university. Of course it hasn’t been easy all the time for everyone. However, I do think that most people see that the change has also positive sides. So the same is true for diversity and inclusion. You might have to change, but you don’t know if the result might be even better for you and for your university, for your society and for your children."