Research Commercialisation Proof of Concept Fund - Equality and Diversity Report

1.4 Summary

• In total, 89 applications were received to the proof-of-concept fund and as part of the application process diversity and equality data of the applicants was collected.
• Analysis of the data collected from these 89 applicants, mirrors trends observed in other reports including an under representation of females, the majority of applicants being from a ‘white’ ethnic background and few reporting a trans history or any physical and/or mental health condition(s) lasting 12 months or longer.
• Applicants socio-economic background, showed that most of the applicants parents/guardians were employed in modern professions, working as an employee, however most applicants’ parents and or guardians did not attend university but achieved high levels of qualifications such as above degree levels which shows, other routes to achieving higher education qualifications.
• The information collected through the application process provides robust data which are important for future policy development and to ensure increased representation from minority groups.
• From the 89 applications received, 18 of these applicants received funding. Looking specifically at the diversity data of the funded applicants, this mirrors the trends observed when looking at the data of all applicants.
• All funding decisions were made on the merit of the content of the application and diversity data was not considered when making funding decisions. Data was only collected from lead applicants, in future iterations of the fund to ensure a larger pool of data and gain a better understanding of the teams being funded, data would be collected from the full team.