A proposal for a parliamentary inquiry led by Professor Rachel Oliver (Materials Science Department at Cambridge) addressing the equality implications of STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) funding policies has been taken forward by a House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee.
Professor Oliver’s pitch was one of four selected as part of the #MyScienceInquiry, and called upon the Science and Technology Committee to investigate how current research funding policies and procedures adversely affect individuals from diverse backgrounds. These included issues such as unconscious bias on funding panels and funding deadlines failing to take non-traditional working patterns into consideration.
In the proposal, over 200 signatories from the scientific community, argued that a diverse STEMM research landscape resulted in a wider range of skills, ideas and greater productivity.
The Committee has pledged to launch the inquiry within the next 12 months.
“The lack of diversity in STEMM shrinks the available pool of talent and ideas and hence limits the excellence of our research. I suggested the #MyScienceInquiry looks at equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the research funding ecosystem because funding is hugely influential in controlling the research career pipeline, and so has a big influence on diversity in STEMM. I'm delighted that this proposal was chosen by the select committee. The pitch I made was developed by a team of scientists from across the UK, working together to get our point across. The success of our pitch just shows how powerful diverse teams can be.” - Professor Oliver