The Durham Energy Institute at Durham University, in partnership with the Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering at Northumbria University, is to run a new £1.23m EDI+ national fellowship scheme funded by the EPSRC (a part of the UK Research and Innovation).
The vision for the EDI+ (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion plus) network is to acknowledge and address key challenges and equip a cohort of researchers and their organisations to make lasting changes towards a diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible research community.
The scheme will grow a ‘world-leading’ UK-based network for EDI in the energy research community. The network will recruit, train and support a cohort of EDI+ Fellows from the energy research community and provide a range of trainings including workshops, seminars, and public engagement events.
EDI+ aims to challenge biased norms, inspire under-represented groups, innovate approaches for making changes, and provide opportunities for energy researchers from all backgrounds.
The scheme will have impact beyond universities and research institutes and set a precedent, offering the means to tailor EDI action among the full range of organisations participating in energy research.
The fellowship scheme garners the best of scientific and social science evidence and critical approaches from the humanities to put EDI challenges in appropriate perspectives and make them available for action.
The project’s Lead Investigator and Director of Durham Energy Institute, Professor Simone Abram, said: “This fund enables us to make a real difference by funding energy researchers and offering support, training, and institutional backing to analyse their own organisations, and to design and implement a programme of change to improve their inclusivity, equality and diversity.”
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) funded fellows will be complemented by industry- and government-funded fellows to expand the network beyond the funded call and, with the establishment of an alumni network, will offer the potential for the network to endure beyond the funding period.
The scheme will offer selected training events to the wider energy research community, and access will be offered to a toolkit on EDI actions in context and all other network publications. Additional activities will include workshops and presentations to coincide with existing conference and research events, to maximise the reach of the network.
The network will work alongside the IGNITE network led by Professor Rebecca Lunn of Strathclyde University with the aim to build an interdisciplinary community of energy researchers based on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and accessibility.
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Media Information
Professor Simone Abram of Durham University is available for interview and can be contacted on simone.abram@durham.ac.uk.
Alternatively, please contact Durham University Communications Office for interview requests on communications.team@durham.ac.uk.
Useful Web Links
Prof Simone Abram staff profile: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/simone-abram/
Durham Energy Institute: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/durham-energy-institute/
EPSRC: https://epsrc.ukri.org/
About Durham University
Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.
We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.
We conduct boundary-breaking research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2022).
We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).
For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/
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