The paper discusses challenges faced by minority Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in the field of political science in the United Kingdom. The paper first discusses results of a previous study conducted in the UK in 2015 (Mattocks and Briscoe-Palmer 2015) which focused specifically on three marginalised groups – women, black minority ethnic (BME) researchers, and students living with a disability – and the challenges they faced during doctoral study. Themes touched upon include isolation and exclusion, family and caring commitments, mentorship and representation, and institutional support.
This paper then expands on these findings by highlighting how changes in Higher Education policy in a post-EU UK referendum (including the introduction of a Teaching Excellence Framework alongside the Research Excellence Framework) and the further ‘crackdown’ on immigration rules for international students, will impact these minority groups. Based on a new series of in-depth interviews and narratives with ECRs; including university employees, the paper discusses how institutions are responding to these changes with a specific focus on the extent to which equality and diversity is given priority during this time and in what format it is presented.
One of the aims in sharing this research in a European context is to explore the extent to which these issues are present in other European countries and to further ongoing conversations about diversity (interpreted in the widest manner to include not only gender, ethnicity, and disability but religion, sexual orientation, age, research area, and other factors) in the discipline, particularly among ECRs who face immense challenges of precariousness and uncertainty.
