By Professor Kate Sang, leader of the new EDI Caucus, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation with additional support from the The British Academy.

The challenge of creating a diverse system

Creating inclusive workplaces where all employees can thrive remains one of the top priorities for managers across the UK. But despite this commitment to equity, inequalities remain stubborn, including in universities. I have been researching how to make employment more inclusive and accessible for nearly 20 years, and sadly have seen little change.

Despite initiatives such as Athena Swan, gendered inequalities persist in universities, with comparatively few women being appointed as full professors, particularly in male dominated disciplines such as engineering.

Our research exploring the lived experiences of neurodivergent and disabled researchers has revealed distressing accounts of marginalisation and exclusion at all career stages, with those in the early career stage particularly affected.

Universities often rely on temporary contracts to cover teaching and research requirements, which make it very difficult for disabled academics to disclose their condition to their employer.

Neurodivergent researchers, for example autistic scientists, have also shared with us their frustration at line managers’ apparent unwillingness to put in place adjustments, such as hybrid working or sharing agendas for meetings in advance.

It’s better in the commercial sector, right?

In the innovation sector, which puts our research into practice, we see a more mixed picture. Research¹ suggests that employers that do engage in innovation create more stable and better paid jobs, than jobs outside of the innovation sector.

But when we look at spin outs, those small companies which commercialise research, we see very few are led by women². Unfortunately, the current data on spin out leadership does not allow us to see whether similar patterns are experienced by other minoritised groups, such as disabled people or those from ethnic minorities.

We also see across universities the under-representation of scholars of colour, particularly in senior leadership positions. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency suggests that only 1% of full Professors in the UK are Black. There are less than 50 Black women full professors in the UK showing that the inequalities do not occur in isolation and often intersect.

Why does it matter?

Why does any of this matter? The business case for diversity is well established. Even though embracing diversity leads to more and better innovation, those from minoritised groups still face marginalisation and exclusion³.

In short — more diversity means better research and better innovation. We argue there is an urgent need to remove inequalities in the workplace so we can create research and innovation systems where people can thrive.

The new EDI Caucus initiative, which is funded by UKRI with additional support from the British Academy, which I am delighted to be leading, represents a significant investment in accelerating a move towards equity at work in the research and innovation sector. Our ethos will be ‘nothing about us, without us’, a common call to action from disability activists.

Our ethos will be ‘nothing about us, without us’

Our caucus team is led by researchers and innovators with lived experience of exclusion, marginalisation and discrimination at work across a range of protected characteristics.

Our commitment to creating inclusion at work has led us to develop initiatives across public, private and third sector employers as well as trade unions across the UK and internationally. Central to all of our activities is co-design — developing interventions with employees, ensuring that activities are tailored to the needs of research and innovation workers and their employers. Stakeholders across the research and innovation systems will be able to get involved in the work of the caucus through engagement groups, applying for funding and participating in studies.

The caucus will also learn from the pandemic and flexible hybrid ways of working, which allowed many people previously excluded from conferences and other events to fully contribute, while also exacerbating many of the gendered inequalities experienced by women.

My own research has shown the urgent need to transform work and workplaces to enable everyone to pursue a career which provides meaningful, sustainable and secure work. Inclusive workplaces will increase diversity, ensuring that our research and innovation meets the needs of society and industry.

The whole caucus team is excited to lead this inclusion work, to create the evidence bases necessary for how inclusion can be fostered, while also creating the possibility of imagining a career in research and innovation for those historically excluded from these careers.

References:

1. Aghion, P. and Griffith, R. (2022), ‘Innovation and inequalities’, IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities, http://www.ifs.org.uk/inequality/innovation-and-inequalities

2. https://www.uktech.news/women-in-tech/spinouts-gender-imbalance-20220405

3. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1915378117