2024 Annual Report of the PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee

PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Task Force logo

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.