inside out: Dr Kate Carruthers Thomas Research Fellow/Project Manager Using research to inform higher education policy and practice SRHE/OFFA Seminar Series Access and Widening Participation Network 15 April 2016 researching gender in the institution

It is by trying reflexively to understand what happens when, as an inevitable consequence of being there, she disturbs the surface of the culture she is investigating, that the researcher is in a position to dig deeper and reveal the hidden and the counter. (Holliday 2004, p.278)

this ‘early career researcher’ doctoral research research fellow ? portfolio career HE practitioner professional networks

Attributes sector knowledge research skills ideas/’originality’ dissemination professional discipline networks/contacts resource/resourced Research Fellow/Project Manager, Athena SWAN measure internal institutional practice against external agenda collaboratively develop institutional policy/practice identify/pursue research opportunities.

Athena SWAN Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) scheme recognising commitment to gender equality across institutions (HEIs, research centres) origins in Athena Project and Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN) (women in STEM research). An expanded focus post-May 2015: not just one gender (includes under-representation in disciplines, transgender staff and students) academic and professional and support staff STEMM and AHSSBL (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Business and Law) ‘representation, progression and success for all’ data gathering, reflection, action planning, monitoring

It is by trying reflexively to understand what happens when, as an inevitable consequence of being there, she disturbs the surface of the culture she is investigating, that the researcher is in a position to dig deeper and reveal the hidden and the counter. (Holliday 2004, p.278)

Attributes sector knowledge research skills ideas/’originality’ dissemination professional discipline networks/contacts resource/resourced Risks uncomfortable findings? reputational risk? insider/bias? credibility? narrow horizons?

Project 1 ( ) -under-representation of women in senior leadership roles -barriers to career progress/development. in-house commission small scale case study - internal Research Centre statistical data – percentages of female staff members, role/grade, outcomes of promotion rounds and research funding applications, contributions to seminar programme … qualitative interview data small staff sample - experiences, perceived barriers, examples of good practice report and recommendations to inform Centre strategy/policy

Project 2 ( ) -longitudinal study of gendered experiences of career development -the role of the institution in promoting gender equality informed by Athena SWAN framework multiple interviews, narrative restorying framing: institution as ‘activity space’: the spatial network of links and activities, of spatial connections and of locations, within which a particular agent operates … within each activity space there is a geography of power (Massey 2005, p.55). dissemination of emerging findings, outcomes - building research profile impact on policy?

It is by trying reflexively to understand what happens when, as an inevitable consequence of being there, she disturbs the surface of the culture she is investigating, that the researcher is in a position to dig deeper and reveal the hidden and the counter. (Holliday 2004, p.278)

Dr Kate Carruthers Thomas Research Fellow/Project Manager