Category Archives: diversity

Indications of Direction of Travel at UKRI

Posted on 21 March 2022 by Athene Donald

I have been reading the recent publication from UKRI, their strategy document for the next five years. In UKRI’s relatively brief history, this is the first such document it has produced, because it is only now that they have any … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Will ARIA Sing?

Posted on 21 February 2021 by Athene Donald

The much trailed UK version of ARPA now has a name, and it’s not BARPA or UKARPA, it’s ARIA: the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. Not, note, Innovation but Invention. Is this going to be an important distinction or simply … Continue reading →

Posted in ARPA, diversity, high risk, Science Funding, Women in science | Comments Off on Will ARIA Sing?

How might the Athena Swan Process Emerge?

Posted on 13 May 2018 by Athene Donald

When groups of (comparative) strangers sit around a table, it is impossible to predict what will emerge in the way of new ideas. Readers of this blog will not be surprised to know that I think diversity – of background, … Continue reading →

Posted in AdvanceHE, Athena Forum, diversity, Equality, letters of reference, Women in science | Comments Off on How might the Athena Swan Process Emerge?

Diversity skips African Americans in science

Posted on 22 September 2017 by Steve Caplan

On a recent grant review panel, I was struck at the degree of diversity among the reviewers  at the table; with roughly twenty scientists in the group, I noted people who who hailed from at least nine different countries (not … Continue reading →

Posted in affirmative action, African American, diversity, education, grant review, minorities, panels, Research, science | Comments Off on Diversity skips African Americans in science

Beware of the monoculture (why diversity is good for crops and tech companies)

Posted on 8 August 2017 by Sylvia McLain

In the 1930’s, the USA along with a number of other countries, went through a massive economic depression. This was in no small part due to a lack of diversity. Those amber waves of grain, which had only been recently … Continue reading →

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The ‘Mine’s Bigger’ School of Science

Posted on 16 October 2016 by Athene Donald

I didn’t watch the second Trump-Clinton debate, but it is clear from all I’ve read that one of the former’s tactics to attempt to disconcert Clinton was to try to intimidate her physically – by sheer bulk and position on … Continue reading →

Posted in CV, diversity, Equality, ERC, grant income, h index, promotion, Science Culture | Comments Off on The ‘Mine’s Bigger’ School of Science

Forgetting Compassion

Posted on 19 June 2016 by Athene Donald

Last Thursday I sat next to the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Mark Walport, at a College dinner. We discovered we were exact contemporaries in Cambridge, both coming up in 1971 to a world utterly different from the one we … Continue reading →

Posted in diversity, ERC, EU, Jo Cox, minority, Remain | Comments Off on Forgetting Compassion

How to deal with delicate situations in the lab

Posted on 23 April 2016 by Steve Caplan

Welcoming diversity in the workplace has become second nature in the US, and I would venture to guess that the biomedical workplace has been paving the way for years. The reliance on international scientific talent in the US has truly … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, diversity, ethnic, graduate student, lab, laboratory, Music, nationality, personal hygiene, PhD, postdoc, postdoctoral fellow, Research, science, smoking, student, tolerance | Comments Off on How to deal with delicate situations in the lab

Cambridge University, Widening Participation and the Government

Posted on 4 February 2016 by Athene Donald

What follows first appeared on the Times Higher Education blog platform on February 2nd 2016 (this is the unedited version). At the bottom I add a footnote about further developments since I first drafted this piece mainly regarding Cambridge admissions … Continue reading →

Posted in BAMEs, diversity, education, Oxbridge, widening participation | Comments Off on Cambridge University, Widening Participation and the Government

I Refuse to Think Like a Man

Posted on 12 August 2015 by Athene Donald

The recipe for success for women has been identified as Look like a girl, Act like a lady, Think like a man, Work like a boss. (or at least it was until the Bic South Africa advertising poster was pulled … Continue reading →

Posted in Bic South Africa, diversity, Equality, Megan Henley, metrics, Women in science | Comments Off on I Refuse to Think Like a Man