The global inclusivity
report 2022

Who's doing what?

Inclusion in the academic workplace

Sixty per cent of academics say their institute is taking initiatives to drive inclusion in the workplace. North America is leading on initiatives, with 73% academic saying they know of them, followed by 64% in the UK and N&WE & UK, with a low of 49% in S&E Europe.

One in five academics ‘Don’t know’ of any initiatives. This is down from 24% in 2020, with S&E Europe topping this area at 28%. Academics from North America are most likely to know if initiatives are taking place, with only 15% saying they don’t know.

Area	Yes	No	I don’t know
2020	60.6%	15.9%	23.5%
2022	60.0%	19.8%	20.2%
UK	64.1% (64.2%)	16.1% (12.3%)	19.8% (23.5%)
Asia	57.1% (55.8%)	18.7% (18.8%)	24.2% (25.4%)
Australasia	63.2% (67.4%)	18.4% (13.5%)	18.4% (19.1%)
Latin America	57.8% (71.3%)	20.0% (11.7%)	22.2% (17.0%)
Middle East & Africa	54.6% (53.7%)	23.0% (25.0%)	22.4% (21.3%)
North America	73.4% (70.5%)	11.4% (11.4%)	15.2% (18.1%)
N&W Europe & UK	64.0%	18.0%	18.0%
S&E Europe	48.5% (55.0%)	23.5% (14.2%)	28.0% (30.8%)

Initiatives that academics say their workplaces are rolling out

Training & development

EDI training
Flexible training schedules
Mentorship for disabled people
Support of disabled staff, Black, Indigenous and people of colour
Skill development courses for empowerment of women
Student scholarships and research fellowships

Equity, diversity & inclusion groups/leaders

EDI taskforce/committees/councils/working groups
EDI office/dean
Research groups with a diversity focus

Events

Workshops and seminars to promote inclusivity
Activities that structurally encourage inclusivity

Policies

EDI policies in general
Inclusive recruitment practices e.g. strategic academic appointments
Gender quotas
Athena Swan Charter – gender equity in leadership / executive positions

Real or a façade?

Many institutions have EDI policies in place, but some academics argue that these initiatives are for appearance purposes only, rather than a genuine attempt to change the status quo. Others argue that EDI approaches are themselves anti-inclusive and may in fact be damaging.

Pretence
"We have DEI initiatives, but I think many of them are just for show. There’s a push, which I think will move the baseline some, but the reality is that there’s also pushback by those happy with the status quo and who are threatened by change." Woman academic in USA

Ineffective
"We must learn to value and incorporate the thinking of multiple cultures and intellectual perspectives. This is more than just ensuring everyone is in the room, but also ensures that their perspectives are included in discussions, decisions, and implementation of organizational performance." Man academic in USA

Tokenistic
"A mentoring scheme which takes into account inclusivity. Various campus events to promote underrepresented staff/students. Unfortunately, these are often tokenistic and involve those who are already discriminated against (e.g. women) taking the lions share of the actual work." Man researcher in Australia

Actionless
"My workplace talks a lot of the talk but does not actually walk any of the walk. They have yet to recognise their biases and their hand in systemic and overt racism and discrimination." Woman librarian in USA

All means all
"I’ve seen experienced professors let go AFTER being replaced by lesser credentialed but different skin colour and different political leaning professors – all in the name of diversity. Diversity and inclusivity includes ALL colours, cultures, and political leanings – without penalty." Demographic data not provided

Fake
"There are ‘inclusive’ practices on paper so they can say we have them, but they are not being enforced and are not a part of the organisational culture. As long as it’s not a part of the organisational culture and esprit des corps, it’s not going to work." Woman academic in Croatia