Despite growing attention to equality, ethnic minority researchers in the UK continue to face persistent and well-documented disparities in research funding outcomes. These gaps limit career progression, constrain research innovation, and reinforce structural inequalities across the academic pipeline. This workshop will examine why funding inequities persist and, crucially, what can be done to address them at institutional, funder and individual levels.

This workshop becomes necessary because universities are experiencing financial pressures and cutting back on support provided to researchers. Furthermore, particularly in teaching-intensive institutions, there is limited dedicated support for writing funding applications

The session will highlight evidence from funding data in the UK, explore systemic barriers embedded within funding processes, institutional practices, and academic cultures. The workshop will discuss structural explanations and practical interventions at the level of funders, universities, and research communities.

Using a dialogical approach, the facilitator and participants will have a guided discussion to identify effective strategies that can be implemented within their own contexts to improve their funding applications.

The workshop is designed to be both reflective and forward-looking, and using real examples, it will cover how to understand and systematically respond to funding calls, while also gaining insights into what evaluators look out for in funding applications, based on the facilitator’s experience.

Workshop - Bridging the funding gap for ethnic minority researchers in the UK

Speakers

Dr Yinka Somorin