2024 Annual Report of the PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee
Presented to the PostgreSQL Europe Board on 19 March 2025
Executive Summary
This annual report provides an overview of the activities and achievements
of the PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee ("The Committee") over the past
12 months. The Committee has made significant progress, including the initial
creation of The Committee, defining its main goals, and establishing regular
meetings. Infrastructure was set up to track The Committee’s work, social media
channels were created, and public awareness initiatives were launched.
Additionally, The Committee enhanced and shared rules and guidelines for CfP
committees and conference organisers and submitted a budget request for 2025.
Other major accomplishments include the distribution of tickets for events
to individuals from underrepresented groups, the introduction of a
Diversity Celebration Board at PGConf.EU 2024, and publishing information
about The Committee, and about PostgreSQL Europe (PGEU) diversity initiatives
on the PGEU website.
Despite these accomplishments, challenges remain, particularly in measuring
the scope of issues and tracking progress due to a lack of metrics.
Additionally, the wide range of focus areas have impacted prioritization efforts.
Looking ahead, we plan to focus on developing effective tracking metrics,
enhancing community involvement, and refining processes such as grant
application processes. We appreciate the board’s ongoing support and look
forward to another productive year.
1. Introduction
The PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee is pleased to present this annual
report summarizing our activities, achievements, and challenges over the
past year. The Committee remains committed to fulfilling its mandate and
contributing to the overall success of the organisation.
2. Committee Overview
- Chairperson: Karen Jex
- Members:
- Stacey Haysler (Advisor)
- Valeria Kaplan
- Jimmy Angelakos
- Stefanie Janine Stölting
- Gülçin Yıldırım Jelínek
- Floor Drees
- Flavio Henrique Araque Gurgel
- Mission/Purpose:
The Committee has been formed to lead the work of the PGEU Diversity Task
Force. The Task Force was created at the request of the PGEU Board to
improve diversity and inclusion within the PGEU community.
- Meetings Held:
Following an initial kickoff meeting at PGConf.EU in October 2024,
The Committee has held fortnightly meetings.
The Committee communicates frequently via Telegram in between meetings.
3. Key Activities and Achievements
Over the past year, The Committee has undertaken the following initiatives:
-
Creation of the Diversity Committee and Definition of Goals:
PGEU members were invited to join the inaugural PGEU Diversity Committee
to lead the work of the PGEU Diversity Task Force. The Task Force was
created to improve diversity and inclusion within the PGEU community.
-
Launch of the Diversity Committee at PGConf EU 2024:
- Kick-off meeting of The Committeee.
-
Diversity Celebration Board highlighting the purpose and goals of the
Diversity Task Force and giving attendees the opportunity to celebrate
diversity in the PGEU community.
- Stickers featuring the newly designed Diversity Task Force logo.
-
Infrastructure Set Up to Track Work of The Committee:
Nextcloud instance created and configured to allow collaboration on
documentation, project planning and task tracking.
Email address diversity@postgresql.eu created to allow communication with
the committee and between committee members, Telegram channel created for
The Committee to allow instant messaging, discussions and polls.
Regular meetings scheduled with detailed agenda and followup notes.
- Increasing Engagement and Awareness Within the Community
- Social Media Channels Launched:
-
Diversity Task Force Lightning Talk:
Created a lightning talk to showcase the Diversity Task Force and
delivered it for the first time at FOSDEM PgDay 2025.
-
Information About the Diversity Task Force and Committee Members
on the PGEU Website:
Increased transparency and accessibility for the PGEU community.
-
Rules and Guidelines for CfP Committees and Conference Organizers:
Enhanced and shared existing talk selection and conference organisation
documentation to include best practices for inclusive events.
Requested inclusion of pronoun field in conference system, to be displayed
on attendee badges (this is now available for use by conference organisers).
-
Budget Request for 2025:
Submitted a formal request to the PGEU Board to secure necessary funding
for 2025 initiatives.
-
Distribution of Tickets for Events to Underrepresented Groups:
Facilitated greater participation and inclusion in PGEU events by
distributing donated tickets to people in underrepresented groups.
- 6 tickets for PGConf.EU 2024
- 4 tickets for Prague PostgreSQL Developer Day 2025
- 2 tickets for FOSDEM PgDay 2025
-
Collaboration With Other Groups:
The Committee has begun interacting with other organisations and groups
that support diversity in tech, such as the PgUS Diversity Committee and
Postgres Women India, with a goal of learning from each other, promoting
each other's initiatives and joining forces to raise awareness of
diversity issues.
4. Challenges and Lessons Learned
Despite our successes, we encountered some challenges, including:
-
Lack of Metrics to Measure Scope of Issues and Track Progress:
The Committee currently lacks a structured system to quantify diversity-related
concerns and measure improvements over time. Developing reliable tracking
mechanisms will be a priority moving forward. As discussed with the PGEU
Board, this requires changes to the PGEU conference system.
-
Insufficient Membership Interaction:
Engagement among committee members has been lower than expected, which has
affected collaboration and the implementation of initiatives.
Strategies will be developed to enhance participation and strengthen
engagement efforts.
-
Too Many Different Areas to Focus on:
The broad scope of diversity-related work, in conjunction with the lack
of metrics, has made it challenging to prioritize and allocate resources
effectively.
Just some of the areas of diversity that we may need to consider are gender,
race, ethnicity, physical disability, neurodivergence, parental/caregiving
status, religion, socioeconomic status.
These need to be considered in terms of conference attendees
(ensuring that conference environments meet the needs of as many people as
possible), conference speakers, blog post authors, hackers etc.
The Committee will work on streamlining efforts to focus on the most
impactful initiatives.
5. Future Goals and Recommendations
Looking ahead, The Committee plans to focus on:
-
Gathering Data for Progress Tracking:
The Committee has developed and shared recommendations for diversity-related
data that should be collected related to conference attendees and speakers.
This requires significant enhancements to the PGEU Conference System, and
The Committee is working with the PGEU Board to implement these changes.
Once the changes are in place, metrics can be gathered, and the data can be
analysed to determine baselines, set priorities and measure progress.
-
Enhancing Membership Engagement:
Implement strategies to increase participation and interaction within the
PGEU community.
-
Expanding Community Outreach:
Strengthen communication efforts to broaden awareness and involvement.
(Social media, email, Website and/or Wiki, presence at events etc.)
-
Prioritizing Key Focus Areas:
Streamline efforts to concentrate on the most critical diversity initiatives
for maximum impact. (see Gathering Data for Progress Tracking above)
-
Creating Scholarship Program:
Expand the distribution of donated tickets to people in underrepresented
groups into a formal scholarship program, enabling potential conference
attendees to submit request travel grants. The Committee will take inspiration
from the processes already implemented by the PgUS Diversity Committee.
-
Recommendations:
-
Engage conference organisation teams in diversity conversations and
initiatives, sharing The Committee's documentation, and offering The
Committee's assistance and resources.
-
Prioritise PGEU Conference System enhancements that will enable
collection of the required data as discussed above.
6. Conclusion
The PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee remains committed to its mission
and looks forward to continuing its work in the coming year.
We appreciate the board’s support and welcome any feedback or guidance.
Submitted by:
Karen Jex
Chair, PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee
19 March 2025
Next report: anticipated on or before 30 June 2025.