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Building solid ground for racial diversity in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences postgraduate research

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Dr Munira Raji Raji-Idowu

Project Description

There is a well-documented racial diversity crisis in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) subjects in the Global North, which leads to inequities in who does environmental research1,2. This project aims to increase participation and retention of ethnic minority postgraduate research (PGR) students in GEES topics and therefore increase diversity in environmental research essential for the green transition.
The project draws together evidence-based interventions, each one targeting a different barrier to racial diversity in NERC-facing research. To improve access and participation, we will increase successful applications of ethnic minority students into GEES PGR by delivering a ‘research school’ with application and interview workshops targeting NERC-funded PhD scholarships. We will build a working group with partner DTPs/CDTs to reform PGR application and interview processes to be inclusive and anti-racist, working with key stakeholders to produce and share findings/guidance/best practice. We will improve experience and increase retention for ethnic minority students in environmental research by improving sense of belonging and inclusion through a network of alumni, post-doc, academic and industry mentors. We will foster career progression by delivering fellowship writing workshops for ethnic minority PGR students aimed at NERC funding and deliver environmental research career workshops.
Through the novel multidisciplinary adoption of Action Research in physical science, we will evaluate and demonstrate the impact of these activities in a UK context, enabling us to develop strategic and evidenced insights translatable to other UK HE disciplines.

Project Acronym EQUATOR
Status Project Complete
Value £3,437.00
Project Dates Dec 1, 2021 - May 31, 2022

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