The UKRI has published their Diversity Data Report, revealing a stagnation in diversity among gender, age, ethnicity, and disability. 

Overwhelmingly, the data showed that white males with no disabilities still made up the majority of applicants to UKRI researchers, as well as the majority of grant and award recipients. 

The report also –  for the first time – included intersectional data points.

Broad Results 

The results found that the majority of those applying to research councils were from those in age groups between 40-49. The age range with the least applications were those under 29. 

Those with disclosed disabilities had significantly less applications than those who were not disabled, and were also lower than those who had not disclosed their disability status.

Overwhelmingly, applicants were mostly white, with Asian and black following far behind. 

Males still made up the majority of applications. The statistics on gender did not include a category for non-binary or gender-fluid individuals. 

The data then composed the applicants into three categories: principle investigators (PIs), co-investigators (CIs) and fellows. 

Age 

Those in the 40-49 age range had the highest percentage of PIs, and 30-39 and 50-59 years olds had a similar amount, which was around the same pattern as seen in the co-investigator role. 

The majority of fellows were between the ages of 30-39, and this is the only category where those under 29 made a more significant standing, but were still less than 10% of applicants. 

Disability

In all three categories, those with no known disability made up the majority of applicants. Only in the fellows category did those with disclosed disabilities have a more significant percentage, but this was still significantly below 10%. 

Ethnic Group

Across the three categories, the majority of applicants were white. In each category, however, Asian applicants made at least 10% of the total applications, but black and mixed applicants were around 1%. 

Gender 

In each category, male applicants made up the majority of applications. Only in the fellow role did male applicants dip below the 60% mark. 

Some Key Takeaways

The review, for the first time, investigated demographics intersectionality. The breakdown showed that and white males did receive the largest percentage of awards as both PIs and CIs. 

Female grant holders made up 28% of PIs and 33% of CIs. Both of these are below the wider UK benchmarkers, but the percentage of female fellow grants holders was above the benchmarked, at 49%. 

The white ethnic group was at 81% of PI grant holders, with the Asian ethnic group trailing at 8%. The stats were lower for the other ethnic groups, at 1% for black, and 2% for mixed, and at 0.5% for other ethnic groups. 

Similarly, the award rate for PIs was the lowest for black and other ethnic groups, at 13% and 12% respectively. 

Comparatively, the awareness rates for PIs for the white ethnic group was 29%, and was 23% for mixed ethnic groups, and 21% for the Asian ethnic group. 

Only 2% of PI and CI grant holders had a known disability, which is below the wider benchmarks for academic staff (4%) and the wider labour market (13%). 

Recommended

• LastPass cybersecurity breach | Here’s what you need to know
• Glasgow startup bags share of £73m clean transport fund
• Kanye West suspended from Twitter over Swastika post

Interestingly, disability status was not disclosed for 6% of both PI and CI grant holders. Ethnicity was not disclosed for 8% of PI grant holders and 9% of CI grant holders. These are both legally protected characteristics, so more research is called for to understand why these are not being disclosed and how this could affect the data. 

For funded postgraduate research students, representation of female and disabled students is below benchmarks for the wider postgraduate research student population. 

Professor Melanie Welham, UKRI Executive Champion for People, Culture and Talent commented on the report, saying: “We know, from our engagement work and our data, there are significant challenges in attracting, retaining and developing the full range of people the research and innovation system needs.

“We also acknowledge the pace of change is not as fast as we want, but we are committed to the continued, coordinated and long-term work that is required across the sector.”

UKRI is also addressing under-representation within their own workforce to better set them up for tackling the lack of diversity in the research sector. 

The organisation argued for the importance of the data and the transparency of their application ecosystem so they could better understand and mitigate barriers to diversity and inclusion.

“There is no single solution that will address the inequalities that persist,” Welham said. 

“The data helps us to understand better variations between disciplines and the different solutions that might be needed.”

Get all the latest news from DIGIT direct to your inbox

Our newsletter covers the latest technology and IT news from Scotland and beyond, as well as in-depth features and exclusive interviews with leading figures and rising stars.

To subscribe, click here.