About YCEDE
OfS, Research England and YCEDE partners have committed to invest more than £4 million over 4 years to improve access and participation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in postgraduate research study across Yorkshire.
Our project is divided into four workstreams (WS) led by different people and involving all partners:
WS1: Improving access to PG research degrees
WS1 Leads: Pippa Chapman, Louise Banahene and Christina Robinson, University of Leeds
Creation of the YCEDE Black, Asian and minority ethnic Scholars Network (YBSN) of potential PGRs
A programme of on-line events for the YBSN, providing advice sessions for preparing PhD applications, funding, life as a PGR student, and careers etc
Establishing the YCEDE Research Internship Scheme that will provide ring-fenced research internships
Coordinating the advertising of > 21 ring-fenced PhD studentships plus bespoke training and mentoring for Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates which will put us in the vanguard of efforts to encourage talented students from these backgrounds to consider PG research
WS2: PGR recruitment and selection for equity and diversity
WS2 Leads: Paul Wakeling and Avtar Matharu, University of York
Document selection processes and practices, including criteria employed and the role of individual selectors
Analyze successful and unsuccessful applications by students from different ethnicities to identify any salient features
Identify any outlier programmes which exhibit already very positive offer and enrolment rates for Black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants
Cascade results and reforms across the consortium and beyond, including the creation of a training workshop programme for staff at partner institutions and DTPs/CDTs
WS 3: Enhancing the on-course PGR experience
WS3 Leads: Asha Akram (University of Sheffield), Esther Allen (UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD) & Udy Archibong (University of Bradford)Research1 suggests that the long term diversity ambitions of YCEDE will be undermined unless we attend to the lived experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic PGRs, as well as to behavioural changes among academic and support staff and other students. WS3 will establish:
Mentoring scheme that will build upon insight from consultations with Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, PGR and student networks, as well as the Stuart Hall Foundation, to design a bespoke and tailored mentoring package and practices that will be shared across the consortium.
Training for mentors who can then offer support, provide space to discuss career goals, skills etc.
Mentoring scheme that will build upon insight from consultations with Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, PGR and student networks, as well as the Stuart Hall Foundation, to design a bespoke and tailored mentoring package and practices that will be shared across the consortium.
University of Bradford – SteveH-UoB, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
University of Sheffield – Tim Green from Bradford, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
WS 4: Evaluating and disseminating our activities
WS4 Leads: Lucy Clague and Colin McCaig, Sheffield Hallam University
At the start of the project and throughout we will collect data from staff, students and PGRs from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in terms of their experiences and perspectives of research training.
We will develop our programme 'theory of change' which will clearly identify what success looks like for the YCEDE project, the universities involved and external partners.
Throughout the project we will monitor the effectiveness (or not) of the activities and interventions by collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data.
We will feedback our findings to the project team on an ongoing basis to inform its development, and create a programme of national dissemination of our methods, activities and findings throughout the project.
YCEDE partner universities
The legislative context
The Equality Act 2010 section 158 (general) and section 159 (recruitment) allows education providers and employers to take action to tackle disadvantages if they reasonably think that people who share a protected characteristic:
- experience a disadvantage connected to that characteristic; or
- have needs that are different from the needs of persons who do not share that characteristic; or
- have disproportionately low participation in an activity compared to others who do not share that protected characteristic.
YCEDE partners, both as employers and as education providers, choose to use positive action to take proportionate means to achieve the aims stated in the Equality Act 2010:
- enabling or encouraging persons who share the protected characteristic to overcome or minimise that disadvantage;
- meeting those needs; or
- enabling or encouraging persons who share the protected characteristic to participate in that activity.
Links to resources
These links are being provided for informational purposes