EDI Toolkit for Researchers

This toolkit is a set of practical resources, designed to help researchers to engage with and understand equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). It aims to empower people, particularly those who supervise students and manage research teams, to really value diversity and promote inclusivity within their teams to improve colleague and student experience, as well as the quality of research itself. The toolkit includes resources to equip researchers with the knowledge and tools to empower themselves, to better support diverse teams, and become role models themselves, embedding EDI into everyday practices to create real change in research culture. It has been written from a UK perspective, focusing on the nine protected characteristics covered under the Equality Act 2010.

To successfully embed EDI within research culture, people in different roles and at all stages of their career can lead by example through increased awareness and implementation of EDI practices. EDI is a responsibility for all of us. Everyone shares the responsibility of creating and sustaining a more inclusive research culture for the next generation of researchers. 

The EDI Toolkit can be used by anyone working in a research space, including those engaged in research and those who enable researchers. The content of the toolkit has been designed with relevance to research within academia to help speak to this target audience.

Embedding EDI into your daily practice is essential to creating inclusive and diverse teams where everyone can succeed. It’s all our responsibility to learn about and understand equality, diversity and inclusion to enable equal access to opportunities for the people we work with.

Visibility of model behaviour is imperative to inspire positive change – this toolkit aims to inspire you to be a role model of EDI and value the diversity in teams. Everyone should engage with EDI to ensure they are aware of the challenges that their colleagues and students can face and ensure their practices, language and behaviours are inclusive.

There are a variety of ways the toolkit can support you and your research teams. You can use the toolkit to:

• improve your general understanding of EDI matters, for example racial discrimination in academia, disability awareness, gender equality and intersectionality, etc,
• raise your awareness of challenges or scenarios experienced by students and colleagues, research participants or other external stakeholders,
• become more confident in understanding challenges and discussing EDI matters, which will allow you to enable student and colleagues in your teams to thrive in their research activity,
• embed EDI in your daily practice and role model positive inclusive behaviour to your colleagues and team members,
• support you in research activities such as: writing your funding bids, hosting and organising conferences and events, recruiting team members, and delivering the research itself.