RSC launches £677k Missing Elements grant programme to tackle chemistry's diversity problem
The Royal Society of Chemistry is proud to announce the award of £677,000 in Missing Elements Grants Scheme funding to British and Irish universities to address racial and ethnic inequalities in the chemical sciences.
Ten projects will share this funding pot and contribute towards bringing change and equality to chemistry. The grant awards come a little more than one year after the publication of our eye-opening Missing Elements report (pictured right).
Our research shone a spotlight on the problems affecting those from minoritised ethnic backgrounds - and we committed significant funding to tackle these systemic issues.
In May, we put out a request for proposals with a view to identifying and supporting projects looking at the racial and cultural barriers that currently affect the academic landscape.
A total of 15 different applications for funding came in, followed by deliberations over how best to split the money. Now, more than 90% of that cash has already been allocated to universities around the UK and Ireland.
Work started on all 10 projects on 30 October and the majority are expected to run until 30 November 2026. The University of Salford and Kingston University are set to complete their projects by 30 November 2025 and 30 April 2026 respectively.
The Missing Elements Grants Scheme was open to applications from institutions around the UK and Ireland with projects in mind that could create "lasting systemic change by improving the representation, progression and retention of chemical scientists from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds and supporting a culture of allyship and belonging."
The funding programme was set up partly in response to the shocking findings of our Missing Elements report, published in March 2022. The publication lifted a lid on the numerous problems relating to the chemical sciences academia in the UK, such as:
- The number of Black chemists drops at every stage of the academic career ladder after undergraduate studies, leading to a lack of Black professors and underrepresentation of racially minoritised staff at senior levels.
- Statistically, 0% of chemistry professors in UK academia are Black (that is, there are so few that HESA data and anonymisation methodology reports this as zero), while Asian chemists are also underrepresented at professor level.
- The average funding award for minority ethnic principal investigators is 10% less than the figure for white principal investigators.
Armed with these results, our Missing Elements campaign sought not only to highlight the problems but also to be part of the solutions to them. We swiftly created the grants scheme, which will help us achieve our stated purpose of helping the chemical science community make the world a better place, as well as our strategic goal of improving inclusion and diversity.
All of the chosen projects will build on the findings of the Missing Elements report and other relevant evidence from each university's own surveys and research to break new ground.
Dr Helen Pain (pictured right), our chief executive, said of the grant awards: "Our Missing Elements report laid bare the barriers faced by members of the chemical sciences community from minoritised ethnicities to progress in their careers. Through this grant scheme, we are providing the critical financial support needed to ensure that the community is empowered to join us in addressing these barriers.
"We were encouraged by the response from the community to the call for applications, particularly in the diversity of approaches, and expect these projects will produce tangible results and ultimately change people's lives for the better.
"Improving progression and retention opportunities for chemical scientists from Black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds benefits everyone. Greater diversity and inclusion lead to a better scientific culture generally and that is why initiatives such as this are an important part of our overall strategy.
"We very much look forward to seeing the change created by these institutions around the UK and Ireland. I hope that this grant programme, and the projects that are now under way, will inspire even greater changes to maximise opportunities in the chemical sciences for those who have historically been systemically disadvantaged."
Bi-monthly progress updates will take place after the projects start, with each university providing a summary of their plans, works and milestones hit on a regular basis.
Project update reports will provide similar ongoing feedback about the progress of the 10 initiatives, with project leads also expected to present summary briefs over the duration of the project. A final detailed report should be ready within two months of the completion of each project, with findings helping to tackle the diversity issues facing the chemical sciences.
Our investment highlights our determination to tackle systemic racism in UK academia and more broadly in our subject. Providing funding to universities dovetails with our Broadening Horizons programme, which supports chemistry students and graduates from minoritised racial and ethnic backgrounds to pursue careers in chemistry.
- Learn more about the race and ethnicity problems affecting the chemical sciences by exploring our Missing Elements campaign page and report.
Academics' joy and ambitions revealed after Missing Elements grants awarded
Dr Tippu Sheriff, senior lecturer and director of chemical sciences programmes at Queen Mary University of London, believes these grants represent a huge step forward in the fight to combat systemic racism in the chemical sciences.
His university has partnered with Imperial College London and Greenwich University for a project titled 'Making Diversity Count: Fixing the Leaky Pipeline'. The three institutions want to encourage more prospective minoritised ethnic undergraduate students to take the leap and then advance more into postgraduate study.
Having seen some of the issues raised in the Missing Elements report first-hand over the course of his career, Dr Sheriff is keen to accelerate change within UK academia and beyond.
"The stereotype of white male Western-educated individuals as the only contributors to scientific discoveries is pervasive in the education system in the UK," he said. "Through our grant from the RSC Missing Elements Grants Scheme, we hope to address this issue by highlighting the contributions of individuals and communities that have been overlooked in their contributions to STEM subjects, especially chemistry.
"The RSC Missing Elements report has identified racial inequalities in the chemical sciences and the lack of progression of individuals from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage to positions of seniority in academia and the chemical industry.
"Through a partnership between the London-based universities Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Imperial College London (ICL) and Greenwich University (GU), this project aims to create permanent changes in culture in the UK chemistry sector by improving the recruitment, retention and progression of undergraduate students from BAME communities ensuring a ‘pipeline’ of outstanding chemists that will significantly increase the diversity of the chemistry community.
"We believe that the involvement of more individuals from a BAME heritage to positions of seniority will lead to enrichment, a greater collision of ideas, better science and improved high-level decision-making."
As well as Dr Sheriff, there will be three other leads on this project - Dr Giorgio Chianello from QMUL, Professor James Wilton-Ely from ICL and Dr Sweta Ladha from GU. Dr Sheriff believes that by working together and utilising each university's strengths, they can create a 'toolkit that highlights the contributions of STEM individuals currently overlooked and provide students with a holistic perspective in their curricula and show how the chemical sciences can provide solutions to the big global issue'.
He added: "We hope to provide insights into research and provide role models to inspire undergraduate students, especially from minority backgrounds, to achieve higher and pursue studies beyond a first degree to PhD programmes and to senior positions in academia and in society."
Dr James Pickering, lecturer in physical shemistry at the University of Leicester, also wants to see more done to encourage minoritised ethnic students to continue studying beyond the undergraduate level.
Living in what the 2021 UK Census identified as a 'super-diverse city' and working with a highly diverse undergraduate cohort, he believes there are retention and progression problems affecting the minoritised ethnic student population. In his project description, he also referred to a 'leak in our pipeline'.
That is why the PolyMErise project "aims to address structural barriers to progression by creating a 'homegrown' network of talented chemists [from minoritised ethnic backgrounds]".
Dr Pickering (pictured left) said: "The RSC’s Missing Elements Report put data behind what many of us in the academic sector could already perceive, which is that chemistry still has a way to go in ensuring that it is a genuinely inclusive discipline, open to all who are passionate about it.
"The Missing Elements Grant Scheme is a major positive step on this journey, and the pioneering projects that it enables will lead to the development of positive interventions that can be adopted more widely in the academic sector.
"My own experience at the University of Leicester is that we have no shortage of talented, passionate, and creative chemists from minoritised ethnicities among our diverse undergraduate cohort, but that relatively few of these students remain for postgraduate study.
"This 'leak' in our pipeline as we train the chemists of tomorrow is significant, and the funding provided by the Missing Elements grant will enable us to start a pioneering project to fix this leak.
"Through creation of a home-grown network of talented chemists from Leicester, and the provision of a targeted funding stream for research experience, we aim to empower the next generation of chemists – and work to ensure that the inequities faced by many today are confined to history for future generations."
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