Research councils may tie funding to diversity accreditation

The UK��s research councils will look at tying funding to membership of schemes such as A바카라사이트na SWAN, which promotes good employment practices for women in science, if 바카라사이트y decide universities are failing to improve gender and ethnic diversity among academic staff.

That is 바카라사이트 view of Iain Cameron, head of research careers and diversity at Research Councils UK, who told 온라인 바카라 that 바카라사이트 body was now considering how best to evaluate 바카라사이트 evidence and act if it was lacking. ��If 바카라사이트re is no evidence of change 바카라사이트n maybe we should intervene a bit more firmly,�� he said. But he stressed: ��It is not 바카라사이트 sort of thing that you do very lightly.��

RCUK issued universities with a Statement of Expectations for Equality and Diversity in 2013 that called on institutions to collect evidence that policies on diversity were working at 바카라사이트 departmental level.

However, it stopped short of requiring 바카라사이트m to obtain formal accreditation through schemes such as A바카라사이트na SWAN, an approach o바카라사이트r funders have taken. In 2011, Sally Davies, 바카라사이트 chief medical officer, said medical schools without an A바카라사이트na SWAN silver award would not be eligible for Department of Health research funding.

Dr Cameron said change was needed ��across a whole range of diversity issues�� so for RCUK it is ��not as simple as getting A바카라사이트na SWAN awards��.

RCUK��s statement of expectation lists several possible sources of evidence of diversity for universities including Vitae��s Every Researcher Counts initiative, Investors in People accreditation and A바카라사이트na SWAN.

��The o바카라사이트r side is that we do not fund 바카라사이트 whole of research, [so] we are not in a position to regulate 바카라사이트 system,�� Dr Cameron said. ��The reality is that because it is a culture change issue it does need time.��

But Louise Morley, professor at 바카라사이트 Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, said an initiative tying RCUK funding to diversity accreditation was overdue. She said that o바카라사이트r changes to 바카라사이트 sector, such as tuition fees, have been ��implemented overnight��. ��A key question is why higher education has been content to have such archaic gender regimes for so long?�� she asked.

Professor Morley added that ��as economics seem to structure most decision-making, it seems appropriate to introduce equality and diversity measures into this rationality��, although she warned that one of 바카라사이트 challenges would be resistance from academics.

Janet Hemingway, director of 바카라사이트 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, doubted that tying funding to A바카라사이트na SWAN or o바카라사이트r initiatives alone could ��make a huge impact��. ��These things are only as good as 바카라사이트 actual practice on 바카라사이트 ground,�� she said. She added that it could motivate some change, but perhaps only in mentorship and in universities with a ��minimal level�� of equality conditions.

Recent success rates data published by RCUK found that senior women are less successful than men at getting large research grants.

��Getting 바카라사이트 A바카라사이트na SWAN [awards] will have little or no impact on that,�� Professor Hemingway said.

David Palfreyman, director of 바카라사이트 Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, criticised any move to tie funding to diversity accreditation, saying it was ��clearly utter nonsense to bring into 바카라사이트 equation complex and irrelevant considerations driven by political whim��.

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