Call for disabled academics to share experience
Published: 11 January 2017
Academic members of staff with disabilities are being asked to share their experience of working in HE.
Disabled academics at universities across the UK are being encouraged to share their experience by a researcher at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, who has identified a gap in research.
While many universities and funders have conducted research into the experience of women and ethnic minority academics, and updated or introduced policies accordingly, disabled academics haven’t had the same attention.
Dr Kate Sang, associate professor in management at Heriot-Watt University, has been funded by an EPSRC career acceleration grant to record the experiences of disabled academics in the physics and engineering fields. Dr Sang is currently recruiting academics from across the UK to take part in anonymised interviews.
The interviews and additional research will produce a guide for Heriot-Watt’s Equality and Diversity Advisory Group, which Dr Sang hopes will be rolled out at universities and funding organisations across the UK.
Dr Sang said, “We’ve identified some of the career barriers women and ethnic minority academics face in the workplace, such as lack of access to networks and mentors, and a working hours culture that prohibits full participation in academic life.
“We simply haven’t yet identified the career barriers for disabled academics.
“Universities have rigorous practices and policies for identifying and supporting disabled students, but this isn’t the case for academics. It’s a patchy framework that relies on the academics pushing HR and occupational health staff for support.
“I am focused on finding out what universities and funding organisations can do to improve the experience of disabled academics, whether it’s building in BSL interpreters or support workers to grants or adjusting timescales and working hours.”
Academics who wish to participate, from PhD students to professors, should contact Dr Kate Sang - k.sang@hw.ac.uk - or call 0131 451 4208. All interviews will be conducted anonymously and will be formatted to suit the interviewee.
For further information, visit Dr Kate Sang’s blog:
migrantacademics.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/call-for-interviewees-experiences-of-disabled-academics/
First published: 11 January 2017
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