One of the things I’ve been working on for the past 2.5 years or so is a report for the EDI in Music Studies network, Slow Train Coming? Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in UK Music Higher Education.
I chaired the working group and was lead author on the report, but it was very much a group effort with data analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency data contributed by Alex Bradley, Seferin James and Mark Taylor, and significant work on the questionnaire and testimony data carried out by Diljeet Bhachu. Amy Blier-Carruthers was involved in overseeing the work throughout as well.
Nevertheless, it has been a huge piece of work and I’m very relieved and pleased to see it out in the world. If you are busy, just read the executive summary, or key points drawn out in comment pieces for WonkHE and Arts Professional (latter is open access only til Feb 2023).
If you’d like to watch a presentation giving an overview of the findings, I gave a 50-minute long talk at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology about the report on 31 October 2022, which you can watch here. The shorter overview from the report launch on 16 November will also be made available soon.
Overall, the findings raise as many questions as they answer, and so I hope that this report leads to more research-informed EDI work in music departments/institutions, as well as further research to address some of the unanswered questions that came up while writing it.
Dr Anna Bull 