Underrepresentation of researchers from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds in engineering and physical sciences (EPS) and, in particular in our grant and doctoral training portfolio and our advisory and governance groups, is one of EPSRC’s major equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) challenges.
A research and innovation system which fully fosters work environments and approaches that support equality, diversity and inclusion for all helps to attract people from diverse backgrounds into research careers, at the same time building on the existing collaborative power of different skills and experiences to create new knowledge. This is vital to respond to emerging research and societal challenges to enrich lives and build prosperity.
At EPSRC, we seek to ensure that the ethnic diversity in our grant portfolio and of those who engage in our peer review, advisory and governance processes is at least representative of the engineering and physical sciences academic researcher population and that our award rates across different ethnicities show no disparity.
UKRI ethnicity data
The annual UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) publication for application and award data by disaggregated minority ethnic groupings for principal investigators, co-investigators, fellows and studentships has been published in 2025, which provides data for the 2023 to 2024 financial year. This adds to the previous diversity data publications that have been published since 2020 and reports on the personal characteristics of UKRI’s grants applicants and awardees to aid transparency in our funding and enable high-level monitoring of trends.
EPSRC ethnicity data: investigating our portfolio through an ethnicity lens
Building on the UKRI ethnicity data release, we have analysed the ethnicity data we hold on our investigators, looking closely at the applications we have received and award rates for research grants and fellowships, as well as exploring participation in our peer review processes.
Our 2025 report Detailed ethnicity analysis: an update to our portfolio data to include financial years from 2014-15 to 2023-24 gives an overview of the people from our community who engage with EPSRC funding opportunities and participate in peer review through an ethnicity lens.
Our ethnicity data highlights that:
- awardee representation varies by ethnic group, with some exceeding and others falling below their share in the wider academic EPS population
- trends among minority ethnic applicants and awardees are mixed, with Asian and Mixed groups showing growth, while small numbers limit insights for Black ethnic groups
- White applicants generally have higher award rates than those from minority ethnic backgrounds, though small sample sizes can affect year-to-year trends
- award rates for Asian and Chinese applicants closely mirror overall minority ethnic trends, as they make up the largest share of this group
- incomplete ethnicity data limits insight into studentship diversity, but among those who disclosed, Asian students form the largest minority ethnic group, followed by Mixed and Black groups
- minority ethnic representation in peer review roles has grown over time, though it still falls short of the wider academic population
- more minority ethnic researchers are being invited to review, reflecting increased engagement efforts
- panel diversity is improving, with a steady rise in minority ethnic membership over the years
Ensuring diverse representation in our peer review processes and advisory bodies
It is important to include a range of opinions and viewpoints in our decision-making process. EPSRC selects most of its reviewers and panel members from the EPSRC Peer Review College. However, from our data we can see that minority ethnic representation within the college (20.2%) is lower than the EPS minority ethnic academic researcher population of 24% (HESA 2023). We will continue to take action to increase the representation of minority ethnic researchers in our Peer Review College to be representative of our EPS minority ethnic academic researcher population.
To achieve this, we are encouraging self-nominations to the EPSRC Peer Review College from all our researchers, but particularly from minority ethnic colleagues. Applicants are assessed on their relevant experience and portfolio expertise in the normal way.
Find out how to join the EPSRC Peer Review College.
Our previous report on peer review participation, published in October 2020, offers diversity data from academic year 2014 to 2015 and 2019 to 2020 in relation to the EPSRC Peer Review College.
EPSRC action and commitment
After our initial data investigations in 2020, we took the following actions.
Increase ethnic minority representation on advisory bodies
We are committed to increasing the minority ethnic representation on our strategic advisory teams (SAT) and strategic advisory network (SAN). In our latest SAT recruitment round, vacancies will be filled from the shortlists with consideration to ensure an ethnicity balance in line with our ambition of achieving at least 20% minority ethnic representation across all advisory bodies.
Safeguard decision-making in peer review
We continue to safeguard decision-making in peer review, challenging bias and ensuring fair and inclusive funding processes, and sharing ideas on the expectation for equality, diversity and inclusion in our research and training grants.
As part of our data investigations, we continue to evolve our data capabilities and enhance our understanding by exploring the intersectionality of the ethnicity data with, for example, gender and nationality. We hope to combine our data understanding with that of universities to facilitate a broader picture.
Find out more about UKRI activities to address underrepresentation and systemic disparities.
Findings of our community engagement and actions for change
Alongside our data investigations and new commitments, we have engaged with our community to gather insights and perspectives to better understand the factors that influence the inclusion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic researchers and doctoral students in our portfolio, as well as the challenges colleagues encountered as they enter into and progress their research careers.
Our community engagement explored:
- the barriers that doctoral students from minority ethnic backgrounds may face when accessing doctoral studies
- the attractiveness of a transition to an academic career for people from a minority ethnic background
- the challenges facing minority ethnic researchers as they progress their research careers
- the experiences of minority ethnic researchers when accessing and securing research funding
- the effectiveness of current interventions and support for minority ethnic researchers, particularly in relation to recruitment, career progression, enabling greater inclusion and addressing bias and prejudice
Our engagement consisted of three ‘Have your say’ surveys for academic, postdoctoral and doctoral student members of our community. This was accompanied by strategic dialogues with university senior management and with our business partners to increase our knowledge of current activities and explore how we might work in partnership.
The details of these findings and the further actions we will take to address inequity in our portfolio are detailed in our report Ethnicity and race inequity in our portfolio: findings of our community engagement and actions for change
Respondents shared personal experiences and detailed accounts of navigating the grant funding system as well as details of discrimination and exclusion in their workplaces. Many people gave comprehensive feedback and ideas on how we can work together to achieve our vision for a research and innovation system in the UK, where everyone has the opportunity to contribute, to be themselves and to benefit.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate and share the details of their experiences, all of which have enriched our understanding of what needs to change and improve. This valuable input has shaped and informed our new interventions.
We benefit from being part of a strong and active research community that is committed to addressing these issues. We all play a role and the insights gathered through these surveys and conversations are vital to inform our work.