In today's dynamic security landscape, fostering an inclusive and diverse platform isn't just an ethical imperative—it's a strategic advantage. At the GCSP, we are dedicated to creating an environment where every individual feels valued, empowered, and inspired to contribute their unique perspectives, talents, and experiences towards creating a more peaceful and resilient world. 

Our commitment to cultivating inclusivity and diversity is deeply rooted in our core values and guiding principles of impartiality, independence, and inclusivity. We understand that diversity goes beyond visible differences such as gender, race, and ethnicity—it encompasses a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, thoughts, and abilities. By embracing this broad definition, we aspire to be an organisation that thrives on the collective strengths of individuals from all walks of life. 

We translate our commitment into action and have implemented a comprehensive set of initiatives that ensure equal opportunities, promote belongingness, and foster a sense of community for all our participants, partners, and staff. These initiatives encompass the entire range of GCSP activities and include ongoing efforts to create a safe and inclusive work environment. 

Executive Education 

Throughout the many different security topics the GCSP focuses on, we aim to keep researching and building our knowledge in order to understand where security gaps are and fill them, as in situations of crises, inequalities are exacerbated. Our three Advanced Courses each bring together over 20 participants from at least 20 different countries to exchange perspectives on security challenges and solutions with diversity of thought being a core principle, such as with our European Security Course (ESC) that includes a high participation of women, of global south countries and of countries in zones of conflict. In all our courses we seek to create a safe space for critical and constructive thinking. 

The GCSP, in addition to making sure people from various backgrounds and walks of life are represented in our courses, also has set up a diversity and inclusion working group to discuss gaps and opportunities to better ourselves, both in terms of representation and organisational culture. 

Our Gender and Inclusive Security cluster also works closely with our Leadership team to put in place platforms for inclusive communication to advance effective leadership, such as with our Youth Leadership course, #LIMPACT, and Inspiring African Women Leaders course amongst others. We also have podcasts, videos, workshops and debates which highlight the benefits of diverse teams such as for our Mediating in Mozambique event and Power, Equity and Inclusion workshop. Shared ownership and commitment is at the start of making it work for an organization, and the GCSP is dedicated to show that the image you create is the image that you see. 

Diplomatic Dialogue 

The Diplomatic Dialogue pays great attention to inclusion in its dialogues as well to diversity of backgrounds. Whenever possible, the Diplomatic Dialogue makes sure that parity is respected in terms of participants and experts. It is well known that violent conflict disproportionately affects women and girls and intensifies pre-existing gender inequalities and discrimination. Women are also active agents of peace in armed conflict, yet their role as key players and change agents of peace has been largely unrecognised. It is important to integrate minorities in peace processes and mediation, and the GCSP actively seeks opportunities for doing so. 

Global Fellowship Initiative and Creative Spark 

Diversity and inclusion are at the core of our Global Fellowship Initiative and Creative Spark programmes. The journey towards a better future is not one embarked upon alone. It is a collective endeavour that requires collaboration and shared knowledge among the brightest minds from diverse fields and backgrounds. Bringing together like-minded and non-likeminded experts and practitioners from across the globe with a variety of backgrounds allows for a holistic approach to global security. It also allows for innovative solutions to be found and tested. Our Fellows not only contribute to courses, events, publications and other GCSP activities; they constitute a wide pool of expertise willing to build on collective intelligence in order to ensure a brighter future for the generations to come. 

Research and Policy Advice 

Pressing global issues often cause rifts amid populations, often to the detriment of minorities and people in precarious situations. Therefore, our Research and Policy Advice always focuses on finding and bridging gaps in security policies in order to better combat inequalities. Over the years, much of our research has explored the importance of diversity and inclusion for global security, as is the case for the following papers: 

• Instruments for Sustaining Peace: The Contribution of Strategic Foresight, Emily Munro 
• India's G20 Presidency: Opportunity to Resume Engagement in the Arctic, Anurag Bisen 
• Don’t Fear Saudi Arabia’s Pivot to China, Ali Ahmadi and Ahmed Alqarout 
• The Business of War: IDEX 2023 Reveals the Latest Military Acquisition Trends in the Middle East, Gina Bou Serhal, Serhat S. Cubukcuoglu and Kristian Alexander 
• Tackling the Development and Security Paradox through Equity and Inclusion, Fleur Heyworth 
• Developing an Inclusive Mindset: The Power of Connection and Difference, Fleur Heyworth, Laylo Merali and Stephen Harsley 
• Inclusion through Empowerment: A key tool of human security, Anna Brach 
• Advancing Inclusive Mediation Through the Lens of Leadership, Fleur Heyworth and Catherine Turner 

Alumni Community 

Our Alumni community brings together individuals from across the world through our Regional Hubs and recurrent events, which highlight specific and sometimes overlooked topics with the help of our network of global experts. We provide a space for our alumni to be able to contribute their work and knowledge to the wider GCSP community through Alumni Notes, Alumni Stories, Regional Security Conversations and more, which often touch upon timely issues of equality and inclusion such as our upcoming event on Women and Girls of Afghanistan. 

The GCSP also hosts the International Gender Champions (IGC), who hold monthly podcasts, gender debates, feminism lunches and much more to make gender equality a working reality in their spheres of influence. Our Director, Ambassador Thomas Greminger, is a Gender Champion and works on collaborative exchanges and leveraging institutional knowledge. 

We are proud of the steps we have taken to build a thriving and empowered platform that embraces differences, values perspectives, and celebrates the uniqueness of every individual. As we continue on our journey, we remain steadfast in our commitment to promoting inclusivity, diversity, and equality in every aspect of our organization, making the GCSP a place where everyone can generate ideas, policy options and solutions to complex international security problems.