Equator, a project designed to improve racial diversity in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences research, has received almost £100 000 of funding from the Natural Environment Research Council.
Geography, Earth and Environmental Science are crucial for the green transition, but are amongst the least diverse physical science subjects in UK HE, with poor retention into postgraduate research.
The new project aims to improve access and participation through development of a bespoke research school, remove barriers to access through advocacy in a cross-discipline working group of doctoral training partnerships, and improve student experience and retention through a ring-fenced mentoring network for ethnic minority students. This first funded stage of the project will last 6 months, and will focus on testing, monitoring and evaluating the success and transferability of three key interventions.
The project is a collaboration between academics from Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Manchester, the University of Hull and the University of Birmingham. It will be worked on by three PDRAs (Munira Raji, Ben Fernando and Anya Lawrence). It builds upon work published by the group in Nature Geoscience.
The work will be overseen by a steering committee comprising professional bodies, grassroots organisations, students and alumni.
If you would like to be involved in any stage of this project, either as a student participant or mentor/contributor, or keep updated with project news, please contact the team on EquatorResearchGroup@gmail.com.