Our latest work:
Bias and fair decision-making
Every day, our minds make snap decisions about others without us realising it. If left unchallenged, these biases can affect the resources and opportunities that others are given access to. One person’s implicit bias can have a lasting impact on another person’s career path.
It’s important for all of us to recognise our biases – but what should we do next?
We created this short video as a resource for members of boards, committees, and funding and interview panels – anyone whose decisions make an impact on others’ careers in the chemical sciences. The video suggests some small actions we can all take to mitigate the effects of implicit bias on our decision-making.
At the Royal Society of Chemistry we are committed to tackling the effects of implicit bias, as part of our ongoing work to break down the barriers that chemists from underrepresented groups often face. We’ll be sharing this resource with our community, helping to continue improving fairness and inclusivity across all our organisational decisions. We invite you to get involved; watch and share this video, and start conversations about implicit bias with your committee, team, board, or department. Together we can make chemistry truly for everyone.
Do you have questions or suggestions on how we could further help to counteract the effects of implicit bias? Get in touch with our team.
RSC diversity data report 2020
High quality data collection, and making that data available, is essential to making chemistry more accessible and inclusive for all. In our first RSC diversity data report we have collected data from across the breadth of our organisational activity – including membership, education, publishing, grants and much more.
Download the RSC diversity data 2020 report here
LGBT+ toolkit
This kit provides the tools for everyone to take part in positive change: employers, colleagues, and LGBT+ individuals. Follow the workflow below to find the resource you need for guidance and support in making a real difference towards LGBT+ inclusivity in science.
Find out more and download resources
Black representation in UK academic chemistry
As part of our ongoing work to support Black chemists and understand the barriers that may prevent Black people from following successful careers in chemistry, we analysed Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data focusing on ethnicity and particularly Black representation in chemistry.
View the figures and main findings
Breaking the barriers: women’s retention and progression in the chemical sciences
Talented women, interested in an academic career, are leaving the sector before reaching their full potential. Many excellent female scientists who stay in academia are not progressing to senior grades in the same proportion as their male peers.
Through a major survey, interviews and focus groups, we have gathered data from across the community – giving us new insights into the barriers facing women in the chemical sciences.
It’s time to break the barriers down.
Read the report and share the digital pack
175 Faces of Chemistry
175 Faces of Chemistry explored the wonderful diversity of our community in the form of 175 individual and inspirational stories. Leading up to our 175th anniversary in 2016, these individual stories showcased the different career paths, workplaces and personal contributions towards the chemical sciences. Diversity is at the heart of great chemistry and so, to reflect that, we’ve taken the best of our 175 stories and woven them into content across our website.
With an ever-changing selection of inspiring stories about our diverse community, A Future in Chemistry is the perfect place to explore and celebrate the diversity of chemistry.
For more information on our work to make chemistry for everyone, please explore our resources on this page or visit our other Inclusion and Diversity pages.
Guides for networks
Short guides to support you when running events, managing committees and communicating information.
Considerations for an inclusive committee
Guide to inclusive communications
Template slide for participant behaviour
Definitions
Equality
Often referred to as equality of opportunity, the concept of equality is primarily centred on complying with the Equality Act 2010. The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate, harass or victimise someone because they have or are perceived to have a ‘protected characteristic’ or are associated with someone who has a protected characteristic. The ‘protected characteristics’ under the Act are:
- age
- disability
- sex / gender & gender reassignment
- sexual orientation
- marriage or civil partnership
- pregnancy & maternity, paternity, parental leave
- race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality)
- religion or belief (including absence of belief)
- background.
All people in Britain are protected by this legislation – not only underrepresented groups.
Diversity
We define diversity in its broadest sense, encompassing similarities and differences of culture, background and experience. Such differences include, but are not limited to, those of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and disabilities, as well as political and religious affiliation and socioeconomic status.
As well as these ‘protected characteristics’, we also consider diversity of our community in terms of geography, job sector, and career path and stage.
Inclusion and inclusiveness
The process of inclusion engages each individual and makes people feel essential to the success of the organisation. Individuals function at full capacity, feel more valued, and are included in the organisation’s mission. The culture shift creates higher performing organisations where motivation and morale soar.
Inclusion is about the culture, environment and processes created by an organisation. It is measured by how people feel and requires effort to achieve. Creating a culture of inclusiveness is about establishing behaviours that support inclusion. Leaders have a critical role to play in this, as people often look to those in senior positions as role models for what is acceptable and what is the norm.
Unconscious bias
Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, is the attitudes to race, gender and sexuality ‘programmed’ into us by society. These biases affect everyone, regardless of their own personal characteristics and have a major impact on everyone’s working life. There are a number of online resources on this topic:
- The Royal Society produced a video explaining unconscious bias
- Harvard University have produced an online test to identify potential unconscious biases
- Chemistry World investigated unconscious bias in the chemistry community, including testing their own biases