Subjects’ gender balance not reflected in grant applications

‘Only two research councils have equal proportion of female applicants and academics.’  The full article by Holly Else can be seen here – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/subjects-gender-balance-not-reflected-in-grant-applications/2019454.article

‘Women make up 51 per cent of the academic population working in subjects covered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, yet only 40 to 44 per cent of all grant applications came from women between 2011-12 and 2013-14, according to the data.

This compares with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, for example, where the Hesa data show that just 16 per cent of academics in relevant disciplines are female, but despite this, 12 to 14 per cent of grant applications came from women. The only councils to have a similar proportion of female grant applicants to that of female academics were the Economic and Social Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.’

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Time to keep score on female scientists

‘The success of female scientists at securing research funding has never been under closer scrutiny. Earlier this year, the Royal Society published the results of a detailed investigation into why so few women managed to get their 2014 University Research Fellowships.

Now, as reported by Holly Else in Times Higher Education this week, Research Councils UK has published data for the first time on female success rates for each specific research council’s grants and fellowships. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/time-to-keep-score-on-female-scientists/2019408.article

What is emerging is a new understanding of why so few women manage to get ahead in science: they simply do not apply for research grants and fellowships at the same rate as men.’

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UCU calls for wage audits as gender pay gap endures

Analysis in THE reveals progress in closing the wage gap, but female academics still earn nearly £6K less than men.  The full article by Jack Grove can be seen here – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/ucu-calls-for-wage-audits-as-gender-pay-gap-endures/2019452.article

‘Female academics are still paid about £5,700 less than male scholars on average despite progress in recent years to close the gender pay gap, figures show.’

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