Diverse and Inclusive Research Careers
What prevents the under-represented groups from progressing in their research careers? What support or training would facilitate progression?
In collaboration with Research Consulting, Professor Sotaro Kita and colleagues undertook a comprehensive literature review that surveyed initiatives in UK universities. It also involved conducting interviews and a focus group with 68 Warwick participants, comprising:
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9 PGT and undergraduates
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16 PGRs
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13 Academics and ECRs
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30 Professional Services Staff
Literature review findings
The review found that under-representation gets worse further into the research career.
The review also found that gender and ethnicity are better studied than the topic of PGR to full-time employment.
Issues vary across different groups and across different disciplines, but there was a paucity of good evidence for “what works.”
Interview and focus group outcomes
Some of the comments from the interviews and focus groups included:
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“Lots of surveys, but not much progress.”
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“PGR recruitment is a black box / unfair.”
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“Role models matter a great deal.”
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”PIs are not interested in developing ECRs careers.”
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“Career development outside of the academia is not valued / supported enough.”
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“ECRs and PGRs often lack a broader social/support network.”
Recommendations by Research Consulting
The project also included some key recommendations from Research Consulting, based on the findings of the interviews, focus groups and literature reviews. These included:
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Establish institutional vision and targets for improvement
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Review and augment the approach to PGR recruitment
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Creating an institutional culture and resource supporting evaluation of ”what works”
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Ensuring all PGRs and ECRs have an established contact with a non-academic personal contact.
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Recognising the time that staff from under-represented groups commit to delivering action plans
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Developing training programmes supporting academics and researchers, including managing diverse research teams and enhancing the success of ECRs in reaching success in research and teaching roles.
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Next steps
Following on from the above, the team will now re-evaluate current institutional ED&I goals from the viewpoint of the research career pipeline. They will also seek to develop positive action initiatives, targeting most “leaky” parts of the pipeline, and re-evaluate the current “pastoral/peer support” for PGRs and ECRs.
Training effort across the campus will also need to be co-ordinated, with a unified vision for research culture improvement, as well as the development of capacity to rigorously evaluate “what works.”
Principal Investigator: Professor Sotaro Kita, Department of Psychology and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)