The language of exclusion: Uncovering Barriers to Inclusivity and Transforming Workplace Culture

Dec 2018 - July 2021

Sam Kingman PI

LiPP is heading up the 'Research' strand of this EPSRC award, which has been successfully funded by the innovative 'Inclusion Matters' £5 million EPSRC investment, dedicated to bringing equality, diversity and inclusion to the Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine workforce in higher education and industry.

Through the work of Professor Louise Mullany (Co-I), in collaboration with Dr Jacqueline Cordell (Research Fellow) and Dr Clare Burrage (Co-I), we are conducting two innovative interdisciplinary linguistics research projects.

The first is on recruitment language, including identifying linguistic barriers and unconscious bias, and then re-writing advertisements to appeal to broader applicant pools. The second project investigates public engagement online and barriers through digital discrimination, focusing on the language used on mainstream digital media platforms.

We are working with multiple project partners at other HEIs globally and with industry partners.

This article briefly mentions us via the University's Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics (CRAL).

For more information about this project please contact louise.mullany@nottingham.ac.uk.

Find out more about STEMM-CHANGE

Technically Speaking

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the STEMM-CHANGE team launched the ‘Technically Speaking’ project to explore the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) experiences of technicians working in UK higher education and research institutions during the crisis. The project involved interviewing technicians and collecting written accounts to investigate how members of the technical community have been affected by the pandemic. It aims to help build a fairer post-Covid workplace.

Our findings, published in the Report, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: UK Technicians’ Experiences During the Covid-19 Pandemic gives voices to an often-overlooked, but critically important workforce in the STEMM workplace. The Report identifies barriers to equal participation experienced by members of the technical community, as well as illustrations of good practice and recommendations for the future. 

The Report highlights major changes to working practices brought about or accelerated by the pandemic, including transformations in how teams communicate and the impact of increased flexible working. It also identifies new challenges that have emerged and the exacerbation of existing challenges in relation to mental health, gender discrimination, parenting and disabilities.

Read the Report