EDI Research

The Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Incubator Project aims to create an accessible hub for EDI related activities in the department, funded by the Enhancing Research Culture Grant. The impact of academia’s persistent lack of diversity is largely overlooked. Thus, the EDIN project aims to create a platform to encourage research surrounding this and tackle this problem. So far, the project has focused on collecting information about the activities going in EDI spaces within the Department of Psychology, making that information accessible, holding conversations with members of staff who are keen to get involved, and facilitating the development of research proposals exploring EDI- related issues.

Current students can volunteer to work on developing new EDI research projects within the Department of Psychology. Contact: edin-project-group@york.ac.uk.

This project explores whether increased stress and/or impostor syndrome relates to reduced self-efficacy in undergraduate University students, and whether this relationship depends on ethnicity and gender. Those who come from minority backgrounds have a markedly different experience than those who are from majority backgrounds. Stressors like being the only person of colour in a room uniquely affects these individuals, and these minority stressors have been demonstrated to affect their mental health and academic outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, attainment, satisfaction). Another element which could impact academic outcomes and wellbeing is impostor syndrome, or the feeling of not belonging, which could impact students differently based on their ethnicity or gender. A better understanding of how stressors and imposter syndrome influence outcomes among university students, and how this influence varies based on ethnicity and gender, is very important for clearly understanding how inequalities in academic experiences might arise and be remedied. Email: minority-stressors-research-project-group@york.ac.uk.

Despite working class individuals in the UK often being supported in their transition to university through widening participation schemes, they are often reminded of their background in subtle ways as they move through academia. There are limited provisions to help these working-class individuals after they progress to university, such as when they start to think about completing postgraduate study. Additionally, working class students often experience class based microaggressions which could affect their sense of belonging within their university. However, the experience of class, and the role of sense of belonging, may not be the same for both men and women. Thus, this study seeks to investigate how a sense of belonging, and an experience of classism, may impact academic outcomes and dropout intentions of both male and female postgraduate students. Email: moving-on-up-research-project-group@york.ac.uk.

Provisions and support for disabled students has greatly improved over the last 20-30 years and record numbers of disabled students are now entering HE. However, even with accessibility support, these students are still more vulnerable to attrition, lower attainment and reduced job prospects. This suggests that additional factors need to be considered to better understand how to support disabled students in HE. One potentially important factor to investigate is a student’s sense of belonging, as academia can be quite a lonely space for those with disabilities. Another factor is gender, as gendered experiences could interact with the challenges faced by disabled students to magnify barriers to attainment. As such, this research project aims to explore how building a sense of belonging and community among disabled students could further close the outcome gap between disabled and non-disabled students, and also whether gendered experiences play an important role in explaining this outcome gap. Email: disabled-students-at-uni-research-project-group@york.ac.uk.

This project explores BAME students' perceptions of Psychological research by running 3 focus groups with BAME students and 1 focus group with non-BAME students. The findings will lead to a framework and webinar detailing suggestions for how to improve BAME students' engagement with Psychological research. It has also directly informed a successful research proposal, and so is the framework upon which the imminent University-wide EDI research centre will be developed. Email: ycede-research-project-group@york.ac.uk.

This project conducted in collaboration with the university of Bradford involves exploring what differences exist among the various sub-groups of the BAME umbrella in relation to levels of student belonging. Data was collected from BAME and non-BAME students using a survey, and follow-up interviews. The findings will be used to inform activities catering to enhancing the BAME student university experience. Email: brad-attain-research-project-group@york.ac.uk. 

This project involved six student interns from the department of Economics and Psychology who explored BAME students' perspectives of the existing curriculum being taught across the departments within the University of York. Findings have been presented in two conferences as well as to various University stakeholders; and a journal article is currently being developed. Additionally the results have led to practical pedagogical changes within the Psychology Department. Email: teaching-and-learning-fund-research-project-group@york.ac.uk