Abstract

As diversity is increasingly becoming a condition for funding, rather than a polite generic paragraph in the proposal, RMAs can no longer avoid the issue. Yet knowing where to start taking diversity issues from policy documents to actual actions can be difficult.

Dealing with diversity in all its forms we believe will be a key competence in research management and administration in a very near future, and we wish this round table discussion to be the first step in engaging RMAs in dialogue on approaches, tools and challenges.

In this session we will discuss the steps being taken on this front at UMC Utrecht and use that to kick-start discussions on what to consider and what RMAs can do.

With the participants we want to explore:
- How we can look at diversity as more than gender, fx race, sexuality, age, ability etc.?
- How are guide for applicants etc. actually read?
- How broad the Gender Equality Plans are and how they are used?
- What are the practical implications RMAs should think of in more diverse research projects?
- What are the relevant aspects of diversity apart from recruitment and the composition of the consortium?

At this stage we hope to be able to inspire our international colleagues, gather experiences and perspectives and hopefully build a network of like-minded colleagues we can collaborate with in developing the role of working with diversity in research and research proposals and feed into the RM Roadmap process.

Based on the round table we aim to give a more comprehensive presentation on the topic at the next EARMA conference particularly aiming at diversity work as part of the profession and professional development.