Research project
Improving Research Culture Through Addressing Inequality in Research Funding
- Start date: 1 February 2023
- End date: 31 July 2023
- Principal investigator: Dr Charlotte Stephenson
- Co-investigators: Jo Garrick, Hannah Preston, Sarah Shaw and Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei
- Contributor: Shereen Robinson
Description
Research funding is a key measure of research excellence for Higher Education Institutions (HEI), and as such is a core feature of institutional research expectations, annual reviews, rewards and recognition, and promotion criteria. UKRI's diversity data show inequality in research funding and fellowship applications and awards in terms of gender, race and disability.
There is a strong need to enforce enablers and remove barriers to improve access to funding for all. Inequality in research funding is a multifaceted issue and is not well understood in the context of the UK, despite the extensive debates that have intensified in recent years.
Research overview
This research project seeks to:
(1) Set out evidence-based actions to improve understanding of enablers and barriers to research funding applications and grant attainment by people from currently underrepresented groups
(2) Identify gaps in current data and develop interventions focussed on research funding support, training & development (T&D), and research communications, with the aim of developing future research leadership skills and facilitating career progression of researchers and research support staff at Leeds University Business School and beyond.
An annual evaluation of the School’s data (T&D, grant applications, internal schemes) will be used to measure the effectiveness of each intervention.
This work is supported by Research England under the Enhancing Culture Research funding stream.
