Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Day 2026

A Tale of Two Silences: Who Stays Quiet, and Why It Matters for Inclusion

In this keynote, Prof. Dr. Smaranda Boroș explores a hidden barrier to participation: in their DEI efforts, organisations often assume only minorities stay silent, but recent research points to two distinct silences at work.

One is well known: it is the silence of the employees who’ve learned that speaking up carries risk, or that their voice won’t matter anyway. The other is quieter and less examined: that of colleagues who feel genuinely torn about diversity efforts and simply disengage rather than voice it.

Drawing on recent research into microaggressions and dominant-group members’ ambivalence, the talk asks what it takes to close the participation gap for both groups at once.

Workshop w. Mira C. Skadegård

How can we understand diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a central part of organizational practice? And how does DEI relate to non-discrimination?
This workshop offers a brief, research-based introduction to DEI, grounded in social sustainability, non-discrimination, and international standards for responsible business conduct. The focus is on understanding diversity and inclusion as more than stand-alone initiatives, and instead as part of an organization’s everyday practices and broader responsibility for equal opportunities, non-discrimination, and social sustainability.

The workshop introduces participants to:
– DEI: diversity, equity and inclusion
– non-discrimination and the relationship between DEI and non-discrimination
– the relationship between individual actions, organizational practices, and structural barriers
– how inequality and discrimination can arise without necessarily being intentional

Through presentations and short exercises, participants will gain a shared conceptual foundation and perspectives on how DEI can be integrated into organizational practices, policies, and development processes.

It’s Not Just a Joke

Most organisations focus on the obvious barriers to inclusion. But what about the ones hidden in everyday conversations, casual comments, and workplace humour?

When Nespresso uncovered a pattern of microaggressions disguised as “just jokes,” they chose an unconventional approach. Instead of traditional bias training, they created a live social experiment that left employees questioning not only what they witnessed, but why they stayed silent.

In this session, Simona Liguoro, HR Director for Nespresso Italy, shares the story behind the award-winning initiative and explores what it takes to move from awareness to action when the barriers to inclusion are often hiding in plain sight.

Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Closing the Participation Gap

Many workplace initiatives are built on assumptions about what people need. But what happens when we start by listening instead?

At TV 2, a series of employee-led conversations revealed invisible barriers affecting everything from neurodiversity to everyday collaboration and belonging. The result was a different approach: designing solutions with employees rather than for them.

In this session, Alberte Scharffenberg-Kjær shares how insights from across the organisation have shaped new approaches to inclusion, leadership, and employee experience, and why creating better conditions for some often benefits everyone.

WHY INCLUSION EFFORTS OFTEN FAIL AND WHAT WORKS INSTEAD

Most organisations can show what they have done for inclusion.
Far fewer can show what has actually changed.

Good intentions are rarely the problem. The reasons lie in how the work itself is designed and organised. Drawing on more than 170 qualitative interviews and 18 years of driving customer and employee focused change inside complex organisations, sociologist Stine Ringvig Marsal identifies four recurring reasons inclusion work stalls. Her research, also points to a wider opportunity. Barriers experienced most acutely by minoritised and disabled employees often make participation harder for many others too.

Small changes to everyday ways of working can therefore widen participation far beyond a single identity group.In this keynote, Stine combines lived experience, sharp analysis and direct humour to show where inclusion work gets stuck and what organisations can change first.

Simona Liguoro, HR Director, Nespresso Italy

Simona Liguoro is a recognised advocate for inclusive and future-focused organisations. With more than 25 years of international experience spanning business, consulting, and HR leadership, she has led organisational and cultural transformations across complex, multicultural environments. Known for challenging traditional ways of working, Simona has introduced innovative organisational models and gained international attention for her pioneering work on inclusion, bias, and workplace culture. She is passionate about creating organisations where responsibility, equity, and performance go hand in hand

Alberte Scharffenberg-Kjær, Development Partner, TV 2 Denmark

Alberte Scharffenberg-Kjær is working at the intersection of organisation, technology, and employee experience. She leads strategic initiatives within diversity, equity, and inclusion, translating employee insights into practical solutions that strengthen both workplace culture and business performance. Known for her evidence-based and human-centred approach, Alberte focuses on creating meaningful change by involving the people most affected by it

Smaranda Boroş, Professor of Intercultural Management and Organisational Behaviour, Vlerick Business School

Smaranda Boroş has rich international experience both inside and outside academia. She combines teaching and research with executive coaching and social impact projects.
Combining academic excellence with nearly two decades of international coaching experience, Smaranda has worked with leaders and executives across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Her passion lies in helping organisations unlock the full potential of their people by creating cultures where individuals feel empowered to contribute, participate, and belong.
Through her research, teaching, and advisory work, Smaranda brings a thoughtful and inspiring perspective on identity, diversity, culture, and the human dynamics that shape high-performing organisations.

Stine Ringvig Marsal, CX Speaker, founder InklusioNordic

Stine is a sociologist and founder of InklusioNordic. She was one of the co-founders of Copenhagen Pride in 1996 and has spent 18 years turning insight into operational change, including seven years as Service Excellence Director at Copenhagen Airport. As Nordic Regional Director of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, she led its expansion across the region, taking a little-known symbol into more than 500 organisations in three years. The symbol is now recognised by 82 per cent of Danes.Her work is grounded in more than 170 qualitative interviews with LGBT+ people, neurodivergent and disabled people, people with caring responsibilities, and people from minoritised ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Mira C. Skadegård, Partner & Senior Researcher, Center for Diversitet

Mira C. Skadegård specialializes in social sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She holds a PhD in structural discrimination and works particularly with how structural and systemic forms of inequality manifest in organizational contexts. Mira has extensive experience in competency development, analysis, policy development, and advisory work within DEI, non-discrimination, and social sustainability. A central focus of her work is strengthening organizations’ knowledge and capabilities so that diversity and inclusion efforts are grounded in research and can be meaningfully embedded in practice.She advises on DEI and non-discrimination, leadership and organizational development, competency building, representation, change processes, and organizational working environments and practices.

Gine Maltha Kampmann, Adm. Direktør EQUALIS

Gine Maltha Kampmann is CEO of EQUALIS, Denmark’s independent think tank for gender equality and diversity. In her role, she works to translate research, register data and analysis into concrete and applicable knowledge on equality, diversity and inclusion in the Danish labour market. Among other initiatives, she leads EQUALIS’ Diversity Barometer, which tracks Denmark’s progress on gender equality at leadership level.
She holds an MSc in Political Science from Aarhus University, serves on the Board of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and is an experienced speaker, commentator and media expert on equality, the labour market and DEI.

*No show fee

By registering for this event, you also accept NOCA’s conditions regarding no-show fee.
In order to give the most members the opportunity to participate in the event and to protect ourselves against food waste, we need to know if you are participating, otherwise we can give your place to someone else.

Therefore, if you cancel after the deadline on October 26th 2026 at 12:00 CET or do not arrive on the day, you will subsequently receive a charge of 500 DKK.

Should you be prevented, you are always welcome to send a colleague in your place and thereby avoid paying a no-show fee. Your colleague will need to pick up your name tag upon arrival at the event.