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Heritage sector workforce diversity research

The purpose of this project is to improve Historic England’s (HE) understanding of the demographic composition of people working and volunteering in the Heritage sector. This will provide the evidence base needed for monitoring the progress of HE’s Diversity strategy and to support its wider activities across the sector. It will also provide information on the extent to which organisations within the heritage sector are monitoring the diversity characteristics of their workers and volunteers and the level of detail that is being collected.

This will be achieved by surveying organisations within the sector to collect the information which they have collected on the characteristics of their employees and volunteers. The project will sample HE member organisations, gather data and report on the characteristics of people working and volunteering in the sector.

The main aims of the research project are to:

  • Design a sample for collecting data;
  • Collect data from organisations and create a data set;
  • Report on the diversity characteristics of the workforce and volunteers in the sector.

The objectives are:

  • To create a profile of the diversity characteristics of people working in and volunteering for organisations working in the Heritage sector in England.
  • To compare diversity within the sector with that of the population of England and to explore how this varies by type of organisation and occupation within the sector.
  • To create a data set which can be used by Heritage England in implementing and monitoring its Diversity strategy.

Project Team:

David Owen(Principal Investigator)

Erika Kispeter

Rosie Day

Stef Poole

Project Duration:

September 2021 - November 2021

Funder: