Science Council commissioned to help increase diversity in the scientific workforce

'Leading the way: Increasing diversity in the scientific workforce, 2011 – 2015' will investigate ways to remove barriers to entry and progression and will focus on gender, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic status.

The work is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and will be driven by a steering group led by Professor Dame Julia Higgins DBE FRS FREng.

As part of this work the Science Council and Trends Business Research Limited (TBR) have been commissioned by the Royal Society to undertake research exploring socio-economic status within the science workforce and examples of interventions which may facilitate the career progression of individuals.

Diana Garnham, Chief Executive of the Science Council said 'We are pleased to be part of such an important diversity project and will draw from our breadth of membership across the science workforce to uncover the barriers which prevent some talented people from progressing their careers in science, as well as identifying potential ways of removing those barriers.'

The Science Council and TBR have collaborated previously to produce 'The Current and Future Science Workforce'. This report provides many new insights into how science skills are currently used in the economy and how this will change in the future. 

The Royal Society’s programme is linked to a parallel project led by the Royal Academy of Engineering and will now provide an integrated diversity programme for the science, technology, engineering and maths workforce.    

For further information on the overarching Royal Society project please visit their website.