New scheme assigns junior female colleague to white senior academics to target “unconscious bias”

Under a new Government funded scheme, white men in senior academic posts are to be given “reverse mentors”, namely female and from an ethnic minority, to teach them about unconscious bias.

The mentor scheme forms part of a broader project aimed at challenging bias which is funded by a government agency, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC).

The agency has launched eleven “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion” projects funded with £5.5 million as part of an anti-discrimination drive in engineering and physical sciences.

Overseeing the project at Birmingham University, Professor John Rowe, director of Birmingham University’s College of Engineering and Physical Science, has said that the scheme will allow eminent professors to confront their own biases and leave them “feeling quite uncomfortable”.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “What is understood about unconscious bias is that we have all got it, but the more you learn about it and become conscious of it, the more you can act.

“While it is well known and obvious that women and minority groups suffer setbacks to their career progression no one really understands why.

“It’s not as if there is any overt prejudice – it is something to do with the way the system is or the way it has evolved and we needed to find out why.”

Staff from Birmingham are set to work with Aberystwyth University researchers and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust as part of the project.

It’s not as if there is any overt prejudice – it is something to do with the way the system is or the way it has evolved and we needed to find out why

– Professor John Rowe, director of the University’s College of Engineering and Physical Science

Professor Rowe also said he hoped to examine the “underlying causes” that lead to the underrepresentation of female and ethnic minority academics at the highest levels of academia.

He explained: “We are mindful that previous attempts at addressing such imbalances have not been successful, so we are investigating new ways of understanding how to support progression of our female and ethnic minority colleagues.

“Questions such as ‘Is there a bias when the gender of the academic is known?’, ‘Is it the result of the group dynamic of a panel of assessors?’ and ‘Are women encouraged to work in particular research areas, perhaps those outside of STEM subjects?’ will also be addressed.”

According to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), in the year 2014-2015 the male to female imbalance in education of STEM subjects stood at 68% men and 32% women, whilst the ratio of BME to white members of higher education saw the same imbalance, in favour of white at 32% and BME at 68%.

The topic of “unconscious bias” occurred within higher education earlier this year when it was claimed that Oxford porters should be given training on the subject, amid claims that they assume black students are trespassing when they enter College grounds.

Oxford university’s students’ union published their Liberation Vision document, in which it recommended that porters should also be trained in how to respond to reports of sexual violence along with mental health issues among students.

The document states cleaners, known as “scouts”, tutors, supervisors and senior tutors should also partake in the training.