How to boost diversity in UK STEM careers

Diverse teams are more innovative, solve problems faster and offer perspectives and ideas.

When Carla Aldington was young, life was tough. Growing up in Cornwall, she was one of a handful of people from an ethnic minority in a town of over 20,000. The racism she encountered was relentless. Then she found support from an unlikely source – her chemistry teacher. Aldington recalls thinking: “Wow, I want to be just like her”. With this teacher’s encouragement, Aldington excelled through college and later graduated top of her class with a master’s degree in chemistry.

Many young people from minority backgrounds are not so fortunate. Despite positive change in recent years, the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematicos, or STEM, still have a significant diversity problem. There is an under-representation of women, peple who identify as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, people belonging to a racial or ethnic minority, or who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This has resulted in a STEM ecosystem that fails to reflect the diverse society it aims to serve and fails to benefit from the increasingly clear advantages that diversity brings.

Change is afoot, however. Mentoring schemes, collaborations and an increasing awareness among stakeholders across different sectors, including industry, government and NGOs, about the benefits of an inclusive workforce, are all having a positive effect. GSK, the global biopharma company, has invested £6 million over ten years into UK STEM-focused initiatives that aim to boost STEM career progression for young people from under-represented groups, including through high-quality mentoring that is delivered in collaboration with grassroots partner organisations. “We know how much diversity, equity and inclusion matters for our own organisation — from fuelling our ability to discover and develop ground-breaking medicines and vaccines to understanding the needs of diverse patients – so we wanted to do more working with partners to support the broader ecosystem of diverse innovators of the future,” says Sally Jackson, senior vice president, Global Communications and Government Affairs and CEO Office at GSK.

Understanding that collaboration is key to making a difference, GSK recently brought together STEM experts to discuss the barriers that persist for under-represented groups entering STEM careers, what solutions are working best, and what steps are needed for a more inclusive future for STEM.
Role Models

The major challenge for minority groups is a lack of role models, says Ollie Folayan, co-founder of the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers. Many people don’t come from families of scientists, and they don’t see figures who look like them in the curriculum, either. Anne-Marie Imafidon, chief executive of Stemettes, a social enterprise that connects women and non-binary people with STEM, says the STEM curriculum is currently failing to tell the whole story and needs to include many more people from under-represented groups who have successfully contributed to scientific understanding and progress.

A second barrier is exposure. People in deprived areas have fewer opportunities to study triple science at GCSE, for instance, which is often a precursor for further study in STEM. They also have less exposure to science activities in schools and clubs. Séverine Trouillet, chief executive of STEM Learning, argues that more student-facing activities and opportunities for work experience are needed to expose children to STEM and nurture their interest.

Challenges also exist at later career stages, says Stephen Hendry at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). For instance, research funding applications for women reduce with each career stage, from 71 per cent for pre-doctoral programmes to 37 per cent at senior investigator level. “We’ve got a leaky pipeline,” says Hendry.

Some of that attrition may be due to another barrier: bullying and victimisation. Part of the lack of diversity in STEM has been attributed to hostile working environments. For instance, a report from the RSC, Institute of Physics and Royal Astronomical Society showed that some people who identify as LGBTQ+ do not find sciences like physics and chemistry to be comfortable working environments, and have thoughts about leaving.

Collective action is needed to address these challenges. That might involve STEM organisations linking up with industry to create mentorships that provide valuable guidance at critical career transitions, or businesses going into schools and providing work experience to give young people a foot in the door and then supporting people throughout their careers. Organisations need to come together to provide role models, share data to gain a better understanding of which groups are being missed and pursue policies that promote more systemic change. “When collaboration happens, it can be a really powerful thing,” says Jackson.


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