Northern Power: Making Engineering and Physical Sciences Research a Domain for All in the North of England

Our vision, as a consortium of nine Universities and six Industrial Partners, is to shape an actively inclusive culture in the Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) community that supports, drives and sustains greater equality for all, including traditionally under-represented groups (e.g., women, disabled people, LGBT+, and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) researchers). Having identified seven critical challenges to this vision (lack of role models; a leaky pipeline; inequity in opportunities; lack of synergy in initiatives; lack of understanding of barriers by some senior leaders; poor data; and poor analysis of progress), we outline six activities designed to address them: shared-characteristic mentoring; reverse mentoring; an on-line networking platform; leadership and networking development; collaboration with industry; better data capture; and better analysis. The critical feature of this bid is that we will pool opportunities and experience across our consortium to better meet the needs of groups underrepresented in EPS. As a result of this inclusive culture, a wider pool of talented individuals will be able to successfully progress within the EPS community and these resulting diverse perspectives will ultimately produce better science to address complex and important global challenges.

HEI partners: Durham University, Lancaster University, Leeds Beckett University, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Teesside University, University of Huddersfield, University of Hull, and Leeds University.

Industrial Partners: Atom Bank, Stanley Black and Decker, IBM, GTN Ltd., Northumbrian Water Ltd. and SAGE.

Our consortium of nine HEIs, from a wide base but all based in the North of England, and six industrial partners, from a range of EPS-facing domains, are all committed to continuous improvement with regard to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in EPS. Our aim is to take a collaborative approach, drawing together resources, opportunities, experience and best practice to build a consolidated arena within which to influence change. By pooling our resources we will be able to meet the needs of groups under-represented in EPS more effectively.

By the end of the project we will have:
- a better understanding and awareness of the barriers and challenges facing under-represented groups within the EPS community.
- an assessment of interventions which aim to improve the representation of groups, currently under-represented within EPS. Critically this will also include a robust evaluation to understand the conditions under which things work well and don't work well for different communities.
- Our proposal is that these interventions will result in groups under-represented in EPS having: a greater willingness to act as mentors; a greater motivation to apply for promotion and grants; a desire to take on leadership roles; a great awareness of role models; a stronger sense of belonging within the North of England's EPS community, and the EPS community in general; and better links with industry.
- established and shared best practice with regard to developing inclusive EPS communities from HEIs and industry (and beyond) with HEIs, research councils, industry and policy makers through seminars, publications and an online platform.
- This will result in HEIs and industries sharing, changing and introducing policies to adopt this best practice.

Longer term legacy impact will be seen in: changes to practices (such as training) and policies within the consortium and beyond; establishment of best practice which will be disseminated so that other key stakeholders adopt it; a more inclusive environment within the EPS community, demonstrated by a more diverse staff and student base including within senior roles; and adoption of this best practice beyond the EPS community.

The proposed initiative will have a significant impact across the engineering and physical sciences community and beyond. The proposed impact can be articulated as follows:

- Increased collaboration outside of one's institution: Dissemination and sharing of best practice through joint Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Established network of institutions and industry, as well as a programme of events and networking.

- Increased awareness of the challenges and opportunities faced by groups under-represented in EPS within the region: This will be achieved through cross-institutional networking, mentoring and through the dissemination and sharing of best practice.

- Increased proportion of female, BAME, disabled people and LGBT+ promotions: During this programme we will seek to increase the number of females and people from these wider under-represented groups willing to take on senior academic and leadership positions across the engineering and physical sciences (EPS) community.

- Increased opportunities: The online network will offer an inclusive platform which will provide for, and engage with, people with different learning preferences, highlighting opportunities across institutions, including EPS-focused seminars and support for collaborative funding bids.

- Diverse staff and student community: This initiative will provide a supportive and inclusive environment through mentoring where staff will be empowered, by promoting innovation and leadership.

- Culture change: We will aim to shape an actively inclusive culture in the EPS community (academic and beyond) through a consolidated arena within which to influence change. We will measure this activity and provide a detailed report that will be published, outlining what impact each element of this initiative has had on improving EDI within the EPS. Successful pilots delivered within this could be rolled out to wider EDI work across UKRI.

It is critical that this short-term investment has a legacy which supports long-term cultural change most notably for the HEIs and Industrial Partners involved in this bid, but also beyond. We intend to do this by joining with the other successful bids within the EPSRC's Inclusion Matters Call, along with the EPSRC itself. Having this capacity of work across the 'Inclusion Matters' Call which supports the EDI strategic objectives allows for an effective engagement with significant stakeholders including: learned societies, other research councils and funders, other industrial partners, and policy makers.

Longer term legacy impact will be seen in: changes to practices (such as training) and policies within the consortium and beyond; establishment of best practice which will be disseminated through a variety of methods, so that other key stakeholders will be able to adopt it; a more inclusive environment within the EPS community, demonstrated by a more diverse staff and student base including within senior roles, grant capture across a diverse community, and adoption of this best practice beyond the EPS community.