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Poggy Murray Whitham is a multi-award-winning DEI professional and researcher, keynote speaker, best-selling author, and former senior engineering leader who helps organisations design high-performing, inclusive workplace cultures.
After rising to senior management in a global engineering business before the age of 30, Poggy found themselves not just leading teams, but constantly having to prove they belonged, often as the only Black, Queer, Disabled, or neurodivergent person in the room. Despite commercial and technical excellence, Poggy experienced first-hand how workplace systems can exclude, isolate, and drive burnout.
Now recognised as one of the Top 100 Manufacturing Professionals in the UK and as a finalist at the National Diversity Awards, Poggy’s work sits at the intersection of workplace culture, performance, psychological safety, and leadership, helping organisations move beyond good intention to more practical, measurable change.
As Founder of OutEngineered, and COO of Divrsity, a DEI survey and data analytics platform, Poggy supports organisations take practical action through data-driven insights and sits on advisory boards and working groups for the likes of the Engineering Council UK, Engineering Professors Council, LGBT Foundation, and inclusive recruitment companies.
Poggy has spoken at leading institutions, organisations, and conferences, including at the Royal Academy of Engineering, Imperial College London, Institute of Government and Public Policy, the NHS, and the Advanced Engineering Conference, delivering keynotes on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and workplace culture.
Poggy’s talks combine data, storytelling, and systems thinking to help organisations move from awareness to action and enabling spaces where people don’t just survive, but perform and progress.
We spend a huge amount of time designing, monitoring, and optimising systems and assets in our workplaces. Whether it’s machinery on a factory floor, quality control in engineering, patient care in the NHS, pass rate in education, or performance metrics in corporate environments.
But how often do we apply that same systems-based mindset to designing workplace culture?
This keynote engages audiences to approach workplace culture in the same, familiar way they already tackle other organisational challenges. It looks at it through a structured, holistic, and measurable lens, positioning inclusion not as an add-on but as a design challenge.
Inclusion isn’t always about grand gestures. Sometimes, it can begin in the smallest of moments.
Everyday interactions, such as being spoken over in meetings or someone taking the time out to listen to you, can define how people show up, speak up, and ultimately whether they stay.
This keynote blends honesty, vulnerability, and insight to help audiences recognise moments that shape belonging, reflect on their behaviours and those of others, and take simple, practical actions that can make a meaningful and measurable difference.
Many industries are facing significant challenges, especially when it comes to attraction, recruitment, and progression of talent. Getting the right talent is a hard task, but keeping it is vital.
This keynote explores how inclusive leadership can have measurable impact on organisational processes such as these, connecting leadership behaviours to real organisational outcomes. It highlights the role of data gathering, evidence-based decision making, and accountability in building workplace cultures where people want to work, progress, and stay.
You would find it difficult to enter a construction site without the correct precautions, perform surgery without the right PPE, or even run a Scout group without encountering risk assessments.
So, why is it that psychological safety does not carry the same parity of esteem?
In industries such as engineering and construction, where physical safety is paramount, research has shown that there is a significant mental health emergency, with people being nearly four times more likely to die by suicide than the national average.
Drawing on professional and lived experience and multiple research studies they have led, this keynote explores the disparity between how we treat physical and psychological safety, shares key finding and recommendations, and demonstrates how storytelling can drive meaningful behavioural change.
“Why does this matter to me?”
“I don’t know that I can and can’t say!
“I want to help but don’t want to get it wrong.”
“I feel like I’m being left out of the conversation.”
Poggy collaborated with our LGBT+ Network for our event as part of history month. They delivered an engaging session sharing their experiences from their career in engineering, as a leading DEI expert, and reflections from their book “Inclusion Moments” inspiring the audience with both their passion for creating equity in the workplace and practical advice of how to make it happen.
I wanted to personally thank you for your involvement in our Men’s Mental Health in the Workplace Conference. The day was a huge success, and your contribution played a major part in that. We truly appreciate the time, insight, and expertise you brought to the agenda.
