July 2025 – April 2026
PI/s in Exeter: Dr Lucy Yeomans
CI/s in Exeter: Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, Dr Matthew Ellison
Funding awarded: £49,753.60
Sponsor(s): Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
About the research
This project aims to investigate the mechanisms of support which Natural Sciences ECRs who are on a permanent ‘education and research’ contract and from a range of sociocultural backgrounds, have accessed – or otherwise – to meet their probationary targets. We aim to better understand the relationship between these mechanisms and the specific research cultures in natural environment disciplines to improve the diversity of these fields at every career stage. The objectives of this pilot project are to conduct interviews and focus groups with diverse 30 ECRs backgrounds in NERC-facing departments at the University of Exeter e.g., Geography, Ecology & Conservation and Earth & Environmental Science. We will combine social learning theories with social identity theories to analyse the data and share the findings with ECR stakeholders and prospective follow-up project partners in a co-creation event to develop recommendations for institutional and external support that can directly address inequalities in progression based on gender, race/ethnicity and social class.
The team consists of Dr Lucy Yeomans, Dr Sanja Djerasimovic, Dr Matthew Ellison who bring expertise in equity and participation in academia, higher education and experience as a natural sciences researcher, respectively.