In order to reflect and promote the ethos and values of the consortium, we actively encourage applications from students from backgrounds that are currently under-represented within the ESRC NWSSDTP and in postgraduate research within Higher Education in the UK more broadly.

We are committed to supporting individuals from communities that have historically been marginalised and discouraged from progressing to academic research through structurally embedded forms of exclusion and bias. Our goal is to address imbalances and to proactively promote and embed equality of opportunity, through a series of policies and measures which form our EDI strategy. This includes outreach work across education facilities, communities and networks, a concentrated focus on advertising and soliciting part time applications, and the introduction of three directed studentships to be awarded annually to students from Global Majority communities.

Applicants wishing to be considered for these directed studentships will have the opportunity to identify Global Majority affiliation on the NWSSDTP application form. These applications will be noted on receipt and considered in the process of the standard award competition, in line with the assessment criteria and schedule.

Global Majority: A collective term for over 80% of the world’s population who do not consider themselves, or are not considered to be white, therefore referring to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and/or have been previously referred to as “ethnic minorities”.

In responding to the urgent need to improve the disproportionately low participation of Black, Asian, and Ethnic Minority students within the NWSSDTP, we have decided to utilise the term ‘Global Majority’, as an alternative to terminology such as ‘BAME’ (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic).

The term Global Majority was first introduced by Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE in response to increasing discontent with acronyms such as ‘BAME’ in the UK, or the term ‘People of Color’ in the USA, due to the way in which this terminology situates whiteness as the norm. The use of the term ‘Global Majority’ acknowledges that globally, the opposite is true – i.e., the experience of whiteness is not the norm for the majority of people on our planet.

In doing so, this terminology seeks to utilise more empowering language that challenges marginalisation by connecting and amplifying the voices of the majority, and highlighting what these groups of rich, diverse heritages can bring.

Utilising the above definition applicants are asked to self-identity as being eligible to be considered for one of the NWSSDTP Global Majority ring fenced studentships by selecting the appropriate box on the application form.