Diversity data

The NIHR has a commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in research. We understand that providing diversity monitoring information can seem intrusive. You can therefore answer with ‘prefer not to say’ for each question.  However, the more information you share with us, the better we can identify under-representation across different groups.  This allows us to focus on barriers and plan interventions to remove these,  so that people from all groups can work with us. This information also helps us ensure our interventions are better targeted and more effective. 

Before 2023, the NIHR only collected diversity information on age, disability, ethnicity and sex. From April 2023 we are collecting all 9 characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010. We are also collecting information about socioeconomic status and caring responsibilities. So we are asking people to update their information for these new questions.

This update will allow us to monitor equality of opportunity across these characteristics. Once you have provided your information, we will request that you review it at regular intervals to ensure it remains up to date. This meets the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Article 5, clause d. You can access the research management systems at any time to update your information as needed.

NIHR uses this information to understand the diversity of people that engage with us. This helps us identify which groups are underrepresented, and the barriers that affect certain groups.  It also ensures we are complying with our legal obligations under the under the Equality Act 2010. Your information will help us understand where to focus our efforts so we can make meaningful progress and move towards becoming a more inclusive research funder. Some examples of initiatives we have developed in response to collecting this information include:

• Setting diversity targets to address under-representation among professional committee members.
• Launching a major engagement project in 2023 to understand the experiences of disabled people who work with us. This information will inform our Disability Framework, which will improve inclusion for disabled people at the NIHR.
• Developing mentoring and support programs for applicants to help us retain talented researchers.

To be transparent, we publish diversity information on a no-names basis in our diversity report.

The NIHR published diversity data in 2021 and in 2022. We are now focusing on delivering our strategy, to meet the targets we have set.

Whilst we will continue to monitor data annually, we will be moving to a three year public reporting cycle. This will help us strengthen the robustness of the data we collect as well as the insights this provides. Our next diversity data will be published in the financial year 2025/ 2026.

Yes. Public sector bodies must monitor equality of opportunity between groups protected under the Equality Act 2010. If NIHR don’t collect diversity information, we can't measure equality of opportunity.

Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), NIHR’s legal basis for collecting equality monitoring information falls under condition e of Article 6, and condition h/i of Article 9. This means collecting this information is in the public interest, and has a clear basis in law (Equality Act 2010).

To protect your identity, we store your diversity monitoring information separately from any other information you provide. This includes information about funding applications.  We will encrypt and password protect your information for extra security.

NIHR is a major funder of high quality global health research that directly addresses the diverse health needs of people in low and middle income countries. We are keen to ensure that the information we collect globally is meaningful. We want to ensure it can be used effectively to identify actions and implement change in the future. We are therefore working to define appropriate categories for monitoring diversity in lower and middle income countries that we work with. In the meantime, for non-UK residents, we will continue to ask for information related to age, disability, ethnicity and sex only. 

Only people who report and analyse diversity data will have access to your information.

The questions are based on lots of current guidance and good practice recommendations. We have used the latest government guidance in some areas, as well as guidance from Advance HE, academic research, and the ONS Census. Contact the Research Inclusion team, using the email address below, if you have any questions.

There are lots of ways to measure socioeconomic status, each with their pros and cons. You might be familiar with POLAR4 indices, or indices of multiple deprivation, for instance. We have chosen to ask about the occupation of your main household earner when you were a young person.

Government guidance suggests that this is a good predictor of socioeconomic background. Academic research also suggests that what your parents or caregivers did when you were a young person can have long-lasting impacts. This could impact your own socioeconomic status, education, occupation, etc. when you become an adult.

The parental occupation question is developed from from the National Statistics Socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) approach. This approach is used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), but simplifies the ONS questions into a single question

For enquiries or more information, you can contact the NIHR Research Inclusion Team at researchinclusion@nihr.ac.uk.