In September 2015, Business Secretary Sajid Javid asked Universities UK to investigate ‘lad culture’ and violence against women, with a focus on creating cultural change. The issues of bullying and harassment in higher education were receiving widespread media coverage, as was the shortage of academics from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, and equality and diversity issues relating to students.
Despite a number of recent initiatives designed to tackle these (including widening participation programmes and charter mark schemes such as Athena SWAN), it was clear that the UK higher education sector needed a new approach to improve equality and diversity.
Research conducted by Dr Alison Phipps and Dr Liz McDonnell aimed to inspire university staff and managers to work towards cultural change through promoting equality and diversity.
Their work is the subject of a research brief: ‘Supporting cultural change to improve equality and diversity in Higher Education.’ Read more ›