Written by Rebecca Dyer. Edited by Destiny Carbello.
In the UK, 85% of university professors are white, and fewer than 1% are black. In fact, only 2% of employees of UK universities are black. Furthermore, the male:female ratio of professors is 3:1 proportionally, (1). Meanwhile, in the US, only 67.1% of disabled students graduate from highschool, compared with 84.6% of non-disabled students (2). Of students in the “lowest-income quartile”, only 11% achieve a bachelor’s degree within six years of higher education, and just 14.6% within ten years of higher education (3). Furthermore, LGBTQ+ faculty members of universities report experiencing hostility from their co-workers (4). These statistics highlight the appalling state of the accessibility of education for marginalised communities worldwide. With the necessity of higher education for employment increasing (5), this cannot be allowed to continue.
With the popularisation of the internet, blogging is becoming a useful method of activism, and has shown promise as a tool to incite political change (6).Diverse Academia aims to utilise the blogging media to provide a platform for the voices of marginalised communities, and advocate for their inclusion in educational institutions. Many of our team members are members of marginalised communities themselves and, thus, have experienced the inaccessibility of education firsthand. Following the words of Kamala Harris, “it’s on those of us leading the way to leave the door more open than it was when we walked in”.
Meet The Team!
Amy Newton
Hello! I’m Amy, a Criminology Graduate from the University of Lincoln. Being passionate about the social sciences, becoming part of a blog discussing education and its diversity really appealed to me.
By becoming part of the blog, I hope to discuss the different experiences and often, challenges faced by some young people within the education system. Drawing upon both research and my own experiences within education, I think it is important to talk about the flaws within the current system and perhaps discuss ways in which current processes can be improved.
My educational experiences have been very much UK based, and I can only draw upon the experiences growing up and going through the education system in the UK. I hope that by becoming part of a blog discussing diversity within education, I will learn more about how education works in practice from an international perspective and how these can be considered in a comparative context.
Rebecca Dyer
Hi, I’m Rebecca. I’m a Master’s student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam, and a research intern at the CoSI Lab with the Max Planck Institute and Donders Institute. I completed my BSc in Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London.
In founding this blog, I hope to increase awareness about the current barriers to diversity in education, and promote a conversation about what can be done to increase the accessibility of education for marginalized communities. Throughout my academic career, myself and those around me have faced barriers to education that were unrelated to our academic abilities. I believe that this needs to change, and I am excited to work with an amazing team to campaign for a more equal education system.
Read some of my other published writing at: abcjournal.nl and cogbites.org
Destiny Carbello
I am Destiny, a Research Master’s student at the University of Amsterdam studying Cognitive Neuroscience. I have worked as a behavioral therapist for children with developmental disorders, as well as an abuse counselor for the Department of Children and Families. I volunteered for the national suicide prevention hotline for 2 years as a crisis counselor. My current research focuses on the influence of Psilocybin on cognitive and neural processes using electrophysiological methods.
I strongly feel that it is important to acknowledge the systemic, institutionalized barriers that prevent individuals apart of marginalized communities from excelling. Historically and currently, within the data and academic professions, a standard body and identity has been centralized and prioritized. This has violent consequences on the communities that are constantly othered and ostracized. My aim in this blog is to centralize and uplift individuals negatively impacted by these institutional structures in academia
Esmé Lord
Hey. I’m Esmé, a politics and international relations graduate from the University of Westminster. I joined this blog as an opportunity to improve access to education, education that will be produced by a growing number of diverse voices with lived experience. I have worked for several charities that specialise in issues ranging from domestic abuse to universal credit legal disputes. I have lived and worked across several regions in the U.K. and spent some time in Europe. I aim to be a positive, powerful voice for the LGBTQ+ community whilst continuing to learn and teach about climate activism, community improvement and global labour laws.
Rebecca Chamberlain
Hi I’m the other Rebecca and I am a Master’s student in Arts Management at Queen’s University Belfast. I completed my BA in English at Royal Holloway, University of London and whilst my educational experience is also purely UK based, I have experienced difficulties relating to welfare, money and access to services. This is a systematic failure that affects hundreds of thousands across the world when education itself should be a free and equal right for all. I want to highlight the subtle ways in which the generic education system is geared towards a statistical figure rather than multiple human beings and this blog can be a space where people from all walks of life can convene and hopefully be amplified.
Ava (Qingting) Ma de Sousa
I’m Ava or Qingting (I switched to my “English name” when I started University, a choice that I feel… ambivalent about now). I’m currently a PhD student in Brain and Psychological Sciences at UC Santa Barbara. Previously, I completed a Research MSc at the University of Amsterdam and a BSc in my hometown, at the University of Toronto. My research focuses on intergroup dynamics, social identity and dehumanization. Even in this field, there is too often a focus on “dominant” groups, rather than the communities this research purports to help. My hope in joining this blog is to center often marginalized voices, and highlight inequalities in academia, as well as potential solutions, from the classroom to the lab.
Jennifer Fielder
I’m Jenny, a PhD student in Mental Health Science at University College London. I previously completed a Research MSc in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and a BSc in Psychology at the University of Bath. By joining this blog, I hope to raise awareness of the barriers faced by those from marginalised communities in accessing higher education and getting into research. I hope to learn and share how the research community can help address these inequalities, striving to make academia accessible to all.
Nigel Dyer
I'm Nigel Dyer! I work as a Business Development Manager for a security equipment trade distributor. Throughout my life, I have seen various types of injustice including racism, homophobia, and discrimination against disabled individuals. I would like to help people to improve to not discriminate against others in these ways.
References
Adams, R., 2020. Fewer than 1% of UK university professors are black, figures show. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/27/fewer-than-1-of-uk-university-professors-are-black-figures-show> [Accessed 1 July 2021].
Cohen, C., 2019. Data on Disabilities. [online] National School Boards Association. Available at: <https://www.nsba.org/ASBJ/2019/April/Graduation-Rates-Students-Disabilities> [Accessed 1 July 2021].
Whitmire, R., 2019. Alarming Statistics Tell the Story Behind America’s College Completion Crisis: Nearly a Third of All College Students Still Don’t Have a Degree Six Years Later. [online] The74million.org. Available at: <https://www.the74million.org/article/alarming-statistics-tell-the-story-behind-americas-college-completion-crisis-nearly-a-third-of-all-college-student-still-dont-have-a-degree-six-years-later/> [Accessed 1 July 2021].
Bilimoria, D., & Stewart, A. (2009). "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": The Academic Climate for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Faculty in Science and Engineering. NWSA Journal, 21(2), 85-103. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20628175
Morgan, K., 2021. 'Degree inflation': How the four-year degree became required. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210126-degree-inflation-how-the-four-year-degree-became-required> [Accessed 1 July 2021].
Sánchez-Villar, J., Bigné, E. and Aldás-Manzano, J., 2017. Blog influence and political activism: An emerging and integrative model. Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC, 21(2), pp.102-116.
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