Bridging the Ethnic Minority Gap in Doctoral Supervision

Project title:

Bridging the Ethnic Minority Gap between Educational Development and Doctoral Supervision: social justice and inclusivity 

“Entry into the Academy for ethnic minorities remains problematic, with regards to access and opportunities.”

Researcher:

Project proposal:

Findings from my recent study, which interviewed 30 doctoral students, suggest that more attention should be given to networking opportunities afforded to students undertaking doctoral research, and to the implications of these for doctoral pedagogy and education (Douglas 2020). This is especially important for ethnic minority students who are often subject to judgements of their capabilities and situations, influenced by their backgrounds, cultural capitals and personal experiences (Mirza 2018). Importantly, the dearth of academics of colour within the Academy only serves to remind that entry into the Academy for ethnic minorities remains problematic with regards to access and opportunities (Leading Routes, 2019).

This study will produce a Doctoral Supervisor Resource Pack to support the educational development of supervisors in promoting networking skills and relational working for ethnic minority doctoral students. This pack will use the dimensions of fit model (Ward and Brennan 2018) to address aspects of values and their alignment with those of their doctoral programmes (Douglas 2021). This is particularly important owing to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent reliance on established networking opportunities and online interaction and communication (Douglas 2020).

Photo by The Climate Reality Project on Unsplash

Themes: