This project explores the approach to and the emergent themes from four focus groups held with a range of University staff who are or were involved with/in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across the campus.

• Project Dates: Start date: Sep 2018 End date: Aug 2019
• Project Leader: Malasree Home (Athena Swan Officer, FMS) EDI co-lead
• Staff: Jill Clark, Qualitative lead, Eric Fletcher and Luke Stewart
• Sponsors: EDI Fund

This report describes the approach to and the emergent themes from four focus groups held with a range of Newcastle University staff who are or were involved with/in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across the campus, including senior, academic and professional services staff. The focus groups, commissioned with the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT), provide contextual data for a wide-ranging study led by Dr Malasree Home (PI), including responses to an online EDI survey, and intentionally provided the opportunity to explore participant’s views and opinions.

Focus groups took place in December 2018, January and March 2019. Each focus group, facilitated by CfLaT researchers, engaged with either senior, academic or professional services staff using a qualitative approach. The initial focus group (December 2018) operated as a semi-structured group interview and was audio recorded.

The other three focus groups were not audio recorded, and after initial introductions and discussion, used a Diamond Ranking (DR) activity to activate further discussion as participants discussed the ranking of, by importance, the factors they regarded as essential in an effective EDI strategy. Some themes from this activity had been prepared from the online survey responses, however, participants were encouraged to introduce their own themes to the discussion and ranking activity. The DR activity created a flip chart as an artefact of the group discussion; these were retained for analysis and further discussion.

At the end of each focus group participants were, in respect of EDI, asked:

• What are the current positives?
• What are the current deficits?
• What are your key messages for the university?

Contact

For further information contact:
Jill Clark, Principal Investigator.
Email: Jill.Clark@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: 0191 208 5637