Report
Co-authored by Dr Mahima Mitra and Professor Sue Dopson, Breaking Barriers explores the barriers to progression faced by under-represented academics at the University of Oxford and proposes recommendations for how equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) can be better supported in academic career pathways at the University.
Funded by the Oxford-Wellcome Institutional Strategy Support Fund (ISSF), the research presented in the report is based on 104 interviews with academics at different careers stages from across the Humanities, Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences. It marks a significant milestone as the first qualitative study examining the barriers encountered by underrepresented academics at the University.
The findings in the report are structured along five different types of under-representation: gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and social class. Within these, the report identifies five sets of barriers that challenge underrepresented academics’ careers:
- The accomplishment barrier
- The agency barrier
- The credibility barrier
- The ‘do more’ barrier
- The productivity barrier
The report was launched on 29 May at a special event at which the authors provided an overview of research findings and recommendations emerging from this work, followed by a Q&A and wider discussion of how to attach actions to these findings. You can watch the recording of the this event here.
Read the report
Actions
In June 2024, the Equality and Diversity Unit and Said Business School hosted an Action Planning Workshop to take forward the recommendations of the report. The workshop included a cross-section of participants, including academic and research staff across grades and seniority, research culture representatives, EDI practitioners and staff in roles responsible for people and culture.
Four priorities were identified at the workshop:
- Development of good practices that showcase what works to promote inclusiveness in the workplace and in the higher education sector
- Improved access to inclusive leadership and management training
- Training for line managers to better understand, support and report incidents (preventing bullying and harassment)
- Increased focus on socio-economic class barriers as an aspect of EDI
The recommendations and priority actions have been integrated into the 2024 EDI Strategic Plan, and will be taken forward as part of the 2025 to 2027 action plan.
