Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering

BARTRAM, FRANCESCA

doi:https://doi.org/

E-Thesis 261 views 56 downloads

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering / FRANCESCA BARTRAM

Swansea University Author: FRANCESCA BARTRAM

PDF | E-Thesis – open access

Copyright: The author, Francesca Bartram, 2025 Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0)
Download (1.46MB)

Abstract

UK Higher Education (HE) is characterised by disproportionately low participation rates of minority ethnic groups, particularly in postgraduate study, and there are stark differences between ethnic groups in terms of retention, outcomes, and progression.Disparities increase at higher levels of educa...

Full description

Published:	Swansea University, Wales, UK 2025
Institution:	Swansea University
Degree level:	Master of Research
Degree name:	MSc by Research
Supervisor:	Rea, D. M., and Sullivan, J.
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70130

first_indexed	2025-08-07T12:31:42Z
last_indexed	2025-09-23T05:15:04Z
id	cronfa70130
recordtype	RisThesis
fullrecord	<?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2025-09-22T10:22:42.2575912</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>70130</id><entry>2025-08-07</entry><title>Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>dc1695f4945eaef24a8bc52c0d9a35ab</sid><firstname>FRANCESCA</firstname><surname>BARTRAM</surname><name>FRANCESCA BARTRAM</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2025-08-07</date><abstract>UK Higher Education (HE) is characterised by disproportionately low participation rates of minority ethnic groups, particularly in postgraduate study, and there are stark differences between ethnic groups in terms of retention, outcomes, and progression.Disparities increase at higher levels of education, suggesting the existence of barriers to the progression of minority ethnic students into postgraduate education. The impact of this appears to continue beyond HE, as disparities persist into employment and progression to senior levels. Such disparities have led to a large focus on the implementation of interventions that aim to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).This work examines the implementation of a pilot EDI programme for minority ethnic engineering doctorate students at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Throughout the EDI programme, students participated in coaching sessions and leadership development sessions with two external providers and received formal sponsorship from senior staff members. This research investigates the decision-making processes regarding the programme and the impact of the course within the wider context in which it was implemented. A thematic approach is utilised to analyse data from semi-structured interviews held with key stakeholders involved in the course: students who participated, external providers who delivered the course, sponsors, and university staff members who implemented the course. Thematic analysis is also performed on programme documentation. The key findings highlight the potential benefits of coaching, leadership development, and sponsorship for minority ethnic postgraduate research students, certain ways in which the institutional culture may limit the advancement of EDI, particularly related to race equity, and the importance of authentic institutional support of EDI for meaningful change. The data-driven conclusions provide recommendations to improve the EDI landscape within the institution and elsewhere.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication>Swansea University, Wales, UK</placeOfPublication><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>Equality, equity, diversity, inclusion, postgraduate education, engineering, engineering culture, culture of engineering, EngD, PhD, social justice, higher education, minority ethnic, ethnic minority, UK universities, EDI initiative, research, barriers to progression, sponsorship</keywords><publishedDay>2</publishedDay><publishedMonth>7</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2025</publishedYear><publishedDate>2025-07-02</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes>A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information.</notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><supervisor>Rea, D. M., and Sullivan, J.</supervisor><degreelevel>Master of Research</degreelevel><degreename>MSc by Research</degreename><degreesponsorsfunders>Materials and Manufacturing Academy and COATED CDT (COATED M2A), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC via UKRI), the European Social Fund via the Welsh Government (WEFO)</degreesponsorsfunders><apcterm/><funders>Materials and Manufacturing Academy and COATED CDT (COATED M2A), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC via UKRI), the European Social Fund via the Welsh Government (WEFO)</funders><projectreference/><lastEdited>2025-09-22T10:22:42.2575912</lastEdited><Created>2025-08-07T13:00:41.4691200</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering</level></path><authors><author><firstname>FRANCESCA</firstname><surname>BARTRAM</surname><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>70130__35156__8166e65248b54d0d8cf5143302cc7e38.pdf</filename><originalFilename>2025_Bartram_F.final.70130.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2025-09-22T10:22:12.0833754</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>1533304</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis – open access</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>Copyright: The author, Francesca Bartram, 2025 Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0)</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling	2025-09-22T10:22:42.2575912 v2 70130 2025-08-07 Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering dc1695f4945eaef24a8bc52c0d9a35ab FRANCESCA BARTRAM FRANCESCA BARTRAM true false 2025-08-07 UK Higher Education (HE) is characterised by disproportionately low participation rates of minority ethnic groups, particularly in postgraduate study, and there are stark differences between ethnic groups in terms of retention, outcomes, and progression.Disparities increase at higher levels of education, suggesting the existence of barriers to the progression of minority ethnic students into postgraduate education. The impact of this appears to continue beyond HE, as disparities persist into employment and progression to senior levels. Such disparities have led to a large focus on the implementation of interventions that aim to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).This work examines the implementation of a pilot EDI programme for minority ethnic engineering doctorate students at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Throughout the EDI programme, students participated in coaching sessions and leadership development sessions with two external providers and received formal sponsorship from senior staff members. This research investigates the decision-making processes regarding the programme and the impact of the course within the wider context in which it was implemented. A thematic approach is utilised to analyse data from semi-structured interviews held with key stakeholders involved in the course: students who participated, external providers who delivered the course, sponsors, and university staff members who implemented the course. Thematic analysis is also performed on programme documentation. The key findings highlight the potential benefits of coaching, leadership development, and sponsorship for minority ethnic postgraduate research students, certain ways in which the institutional culture may limit the advancement of EDI, particularly related to race equity, and the importance of authentic institutional support of EDI for meaningful change. The data-driven conclusions provide recommendations to improve the EDI landscape within the institution and elsewhere. E-Thesis Swansea University, Wales, UK Equality, equity, diversity, inclusion, postgraduate education, engineering, engineering culture, culture of engineering, EngD, PhD, social justice, higher education, minority ethnic, ethnic minority, UK universities, EDI initiative, research, barriers to progression, sponsorship 2 7 2025 2025-07-02 A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information. COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Rea, D. M., and Sullivan, J. Master of Research MSc by Research Materials and Manufacturing Academy and COATED CDT (COATED M2A), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC via UKRI), the European Social Fund via the Welsh Government (WEFO) Materials and Manufacturing Academy and COATED CDT (COATED M2A), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC via UKRI), the European Social Fund via the Welsh Government (WEFO) 2025-09-22T10:22:42.2575912 2025-08-07T13:00:41.4691200 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering FRANCESCA BARTRAM 1 70130__35156__8166e65248b54d0d8cf5143302cc7e38.pdf 2025_Bartram_F.final.70130.pdf 2025-09-22T10:22:12.0833754 Output 1533304 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Francesca Bartram, 2025 Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0) true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
spellingShingle	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering FRANCESCA BARTRAM
title_short	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
title_full	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
title_fullStr	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
title_full_unstemmed	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
title_sort	Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering
author_id_str_mv	dc1695f4945eaef24a8bc52c0d9a35ab
author_id_fullname_str_mv	dc1695f4945eaef24a8bc52c0d9a35ab_***_FRANCESCA BARTRAM
author	FRANCESCA BARTRAM
author2	FRANCESCA BARTRAM
format	E-Thesis
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering
document_store_str	1
active_str	0
description	UK Higher Education (HE) is characterised by disproportionately low participation rates of minority ethnic groups, particularly in postgraduate study, and there are stark differences between ethnic groups in terms of retention, outcomes, and progression.Disparities increase at higher levels of education, suggesting the existence of barriers to the progression of minority ethnic students into postgraduate education. The impact of this appears to continue beyond HE, as disparities persist into employment and progression to senior levels. Such disparities have led to a large focus on the implementation of interventions that aim to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).This work examines the implementation of a pilot EDI programme for minority ethnic engineering doctorate students at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Throughout the EDI programme, students participated in coaching sessions and leadership development sessions with two external providers and received formal sponsorship from senior staff members. This research investigates the decision-making processes regarding the programme and the impact of the course within the wider context in which it was implemented. A thematic approach is utilised to analyse data from semi-structured interviews held with key stakeholders involved in the course: students who participated, external providers who delivered the course, sponsors, and university staff members who implemented the course. Thematic analysis is also performed on programme documentation. The key findings highlight the potential benefits of coaching, leadership development, and sponsorship for minority ethnic postgraduate research students, certain ways in which the institutional culture may limit the advancement of EDI, particularly related to race equity, and the importance of authentic institutional support of EDI for meaningful change. The data-driven conclusions provide recommendations to improve the EDI landscape within the institution and elsewhere.
published_date	2025-07-02T05:30:03Z
_version_	1851097982696423424
score	11.089386

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Postgraduate Engineering / FRANCESCA BARTRAM

Similar Items