Increasing diversity in postgraduate research

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Case study
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Accelerating efforts to progress students from underrepresented groups to postgraduate study.

Progression Priority 3: We will accelerate efforts to progress students from underrepresented groups to postgraduate study – Access and Student Success Strategy 2025, University of Leeds.

Ethnically minoritised students are historically underrepresented in postgraduate research, representing a lost opportunity for students and institutions. 

University of Leeds ethnicity data from 2019 revealed that there were stark differences between the proportion of applicants who are accepted onto research degrees, depending on their ethnicity. For example. Arab and Black students are 10% less likely to be accepted onto a research degree than other ethnically minoritised groups and more than 20% less likely than White students. Data for ethnically minoritised women is scarce but the general trend suggests a rise of just 1% in between 2009 and 2019.

The Leeds data reflects 2016 UK research into progression of ethnically minoritised students into research degrees by Higher Education Funding Council for England (now UKRI) which found that 2.4 per cent of white UK students had started a research degree within five years of graduation, compared with only 1.3 per cent of their ethnically minoritised peers. The same study showed that men were nearly twice as likely to enrol on a research degree: 3.1 per cent did so within five years of graduation, compared with 1.6 per cent of women.

Despite nationally high levels of participation in undergraduate education, ethically minoritised students are less likely to be awarded the top grades and go on to postgraduate research, which means they are underrepresented in academic staff at high levels. This means universities are losing out on valuable diverse lived experience, and students are seeing fewer role models that they can relate to which only perpetuates the problem.   

Leeds is committed to enhancing diversity at postgraduate level, explains Professor Luke Windsor, Dean of the Leeds Doctoral College. “We’re redesigning our processes and systems to address inclusivity, including the introduction of targeted research internships and ring-fenced scholarships. But it’s important that we go beyond that and work collaboratively across the sector. 

“To help us achieve this, we’re part of two innovative programmes funded by Research England and the Office of Students – the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education and Generation Delta – designed to close the representation gap for ethically minoritised students at postgraduate level. 

“Both programmes are helping us develop new approaches to areas including admissions and enhancing the pipeline for black female students.”   

The Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) 

YCEDE identifies and addresses barriers to postgraduate study for ethnically minoritised students. A consortium of the Universities of Leeds, Bradford, York, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam, it looks at international best practice on accessing and studying as a postgraduate researcher. 

The four YCEDE workstreams include:

  • Improving access to postgraduate research (PGR) degrees
  • PGR recruitment and election for equity and diversity
  • Enhancing the on-course PGR experience
  • Evaluating and disseminating our activities.

Widening access

YCEDE is developing alternative approaches to contextual admissions to offer different routes into PGR study. At Leeds, academic Schools are trialling and evaluating contextual admissions measures to be implemented during the 2023/24 recruitment cycle, including:

  • the introduction of equitable selection rubrics for holistic candidate assessment
  • the development of recruitment policies to make sure the staff on shortlisting and selection panels represent a range of minoritised and intersecting identities 
  • securing interviews for applicants who have participated in mentoring or research placements. 

A further opportunity is offered through ring-fenced scholarships to help with finances. We have used data to identify particular student demographics who are under-representation or have reduced outcomes and have used this to shape criteria for the opportunity. Since the process began in 2020, 21 PGR scholarships have launched. 

Research development opportunities

To offer potential PGR students experience of independent research, YCEDE funds several supervised Research Experience Placements (REPs) in collaboration with the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE). 

In the summer of 2022, Undergraduate Psychology student Sumayyah Patel completed an REP which she found a valuable experience. Sumayyah had previously completed an unpaid placement, which she enjoyed, but her financial circumstances meant she couldn’t afford to take another. But she was also aware that paid opportunities were likely to be very rare. 
 
“Having done an unpaid placement over the last year, [the fact that the REP was paid] was a big deciding factor because I realised that, regardless of what area I go into, I'm always going to be a British, Asian Muslim [which will] make a massive difference to the opportunities I’m going to face,” she says. 

Dr Pam Birtill, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, was Sumayyah’s placement supervisor and agreed that being paid for her skills helped Sumayyah grow in confidence over the course of the project. 

“She was having to talk to members of staff about really sensitive stuff,” said Pam. “She was there as a presenting British Muslim who wears a hijab and interviewing staff about race. That could be an uncomfortable place to be. But I think she got to the point where she could really appreciate the value of her lived experience.

Sumayyah also appreciated the opportunity to work as a professional colleague in partnership with university academics. 

“100% I would have to say that it was really good in terms of confidence building in particular,” says Sumayyah. “I think that's really key, if you're a student from a Black, Asian, ethnically minoritised or diverse background, but also feeling more self-esteem within the research world as well.”

After their initial success, the REP summer placements are continuing to run as an annual opportunity along with a YCEDE advocacy programme, mentoring schemes and additional outreach activities.

Generation Delta

Generation Delta aims to lay the groundwork for a sustained increase in the number of women from ethnically minoritised backgrounds enrolled in and completing postgraduate research degrees in higher education in England. 

“As we know from Advance HE data, Black women are the least represented group amongst professors in the UK,” says Professor Iyiola Solanke, Principal Investigator of Generation Delta. 

“We also know that ethnically minoritised women are the least likely group to be accepted onto postgraduate research programmes. Without intervention, it is therefore very possible that the current generation of ethnically minoritised female professors is the last. We hope that the interventions organised by Generation Delta will make a small but important contribution to averting this scenario, which is not only depressing but damaging to democracy and democratic institutions.”

Leeds is partnering with Goldsmiths (University of London) and the universities of Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield and Sunderland to address inequities at three key stages of the postgraduate research life cycle – admission, retention and progression, and career training. 

To date, Generation Delta has organised a baseline survey of post-graduate students and also hosted a student workshop and staff roundtable on access and admissions. Following the success of these, a postgraduate research network for ethnically minoritised women will be established as a legacy to nurture, support and sustain the next generation of ethnically minoritised female professors.

To find out more about the University of Leeds involvement in YCEDE and/or Generation Delta, email the Student Success Team: studentsuccess@leeds.ac.uk.