We are delighted to have received funding from the Academy of Social Sciences and the Economic and Social Research Council for a project aimed at better understanding the barriers that learned societies face in assessing the diversity of their membership.
Learned societies often encounter challenges in collecting member information. Individuals may be understandably reluctant to share personal details, and there are frequently structural issues with reporting. This project aims to enhance our understanding of these barriers and explore statistical solutions to improve the collection of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) data, to better inform EDI initiatives.
In addition to supporting other membership organisations, this project will help us gain a clearer picture of the diversity within RSS membership and how well it reflects the statistics and data professions. With this information, we will be able to focus our EDI efforts in ways that will have the most impact.
RSS chief executive Dr Sarah Cumbers, commenting on the project, said ‘For initiatives around equity, diversity, and inclusion to succeed, we need the right data. We’re grateful for this funding to overcome barriers, enabling membership organisations to better understand their diversity.’