Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Welcome to QUARTILES’ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Hub. QUARTILES DLA and its partners are fully committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. On this page, you can learn more about our recruitment practices, find helpful resources and more information about EDI initiatives at each institution.

“It’s one thing being committed to EDI; It’s another thing delivering that commitment. Leadership is about understanding the challenges we face and delivering solutions at all levels. The biggest challenge about addressing EDI is about changing our behaviour and our habits right down to the granular level. QUARTILES is doing this by our continuing commitment to improving our practices as evidenced on this page. This is an ongoing journey that we all need to take.” – Professor Graeme Paton, Director of QUARTILES DLA

EDI Statement

QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award stands for equality, diversity and inclusion in all areas of our work. We recognise the diversity among our students and staff, and the ways that diversity enhances our work. We want to ensure that no staff member or student is discriminated against because of their gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, disability, religion or belief, pregnancy, maternity or marital status, or socioeconomic status. We aim to foster an inclusive and flourishing environment.

We are committed to:

  • Increasing the number of QUARTILES DLA students from UK ethnic minority groups
  • Increasing the number of students with disabilities entering PhD study through QUARTILES
  • Increasing the number of first-generation students entering the QUARTILES DLA
  • Training and educating our students and staff on equality, diversity and inclusion
  • Responding to the needs of our staff and students from diverse backgrounds

Below, you can find institutional equality, diversity and inclusion policies:
University of Aberdeen’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy: Equality_Diversity_Inclusion_Policy.pdf (abdn.ac.uk)
Queen’s University Belfast’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy: QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST (qub.ac.uk)

Institutional Awards

University of Aberdeen and Queen’s University Belfast are institutions with many equality, diversity and inclusion awards.

University of Aberdeen

Queen’s University Belfast:

Recruitment Strategy

QUARTILES prides itself on its inclusive recruitment strategy. Below, you can find what steps we take to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive.

The ‘Whole-Person’ approach

The ‘Whole Person’ strategy aims to widen participation and offer equal opportunities regardless of personal circumstances. It captures more than just an applicant’s academic ability as it considers the individual’s potential by giving more context to the overall application.

Applicants have the option to write an equality statement detailing circumstances which may have limited the opportunities available to them (e.g. caring responsibilities which may have prevented them from undertaking internships/work experience).

All applicants write a ‘preparedness to undertake and complete a PhD and to thrive as a result of PhD funding’ statement as part of their application in which they have the opportunity to talk about skills and the different pathways that lead them to where they are today. This encourages applicants from varied backgrounds and breadth of experience.

Why is this better?

  • The strategy considers the effect of all situations and experiences to provide full context in the decision-making process.
  • The strategy eliminates blind spots and biases in the decision-making process via accountability and treating everyone with respect.
  • The strategy allows for determining potential based on a wide range of factors, not just work experience and internships.
  • This recruitment strategy is EDI compliant and aims to widen participation and offer equal opportunities regardless of personal circumstances.
  • The strategy gives consideration to applicant potential, not just academic achievements as set out on paper.

Other steps taken to achieve better equality, diversity and inclusion during recruitment:

  • Advertising through non-conventional routes e.g. organisations and charities.
  • Gender-balanced shortlisting and interview panels.
  • All interviews take place online.
  • Members of selection panels need to take unconscious bias training and other forms of EDI training before the recruitment cycle begins.
  • We ensure that all projects allow for part-time study and are advertised as such.
Reasonable Adjustments

If you require any changes or additional support at any stage of the application or recruitment process, please get in touch as early as possible by emailing quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk

Reasonable adjustments can be accommodated in most cases – you are the expert on your specific requirements, so please get in touch and let us know how we can better support you through these processes.

Reasonable adjustments could include but are not limited to:

  • Changing the format, text size, font of the application form.
  • Changing the date, time or format of interviews.
  • Enabling subtitles on Microsoft Teams – instructions are available here.
  • Extra time – this could be for the interview itself, or for an interview task such as a presentation.
  • Changing the format of an interview task such as a presentation, e.g. this could be live or pre-recorded.
  • A test call with a member of the QUARTILES administrative team.

This is not an exhaustive list and we will consider any adjustments that you might need. Please email quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk as soon as possible during the application process / after being invited to interview so that we can discuss this in more detail.

SCOPE have some great tips on asking for adjustments at interview here.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Resources

The health and wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance to us, and as such each university offers a wide range of support services which are readily available to you. Below we link to the support services available at each institution, and through NERC and UKRI. Please visit the webpages of the institution you are registered at to see the full extent of the resources that are available to you. If you are experiencing an emergency, please call 999 immediately.

University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen Services, Support and Wellbeing

Student Helpline – Available 24 hours a day

Student Advice and Support Office

Support for Disabled Students

Students’ Union Advice

Postgraduate Research College

Health and Medical Care

Queen’s University Belfast

Queen’s University Belfast Student Wellbeing Services

Out of Hours and Emergency Support – Available 24 hours a day

Accessible Learning Support

Queen’s Students’ Union Advice

Thomas J. Moran Graduate School

University Health Centre at Queen’s

NERC & UKRI

If a student has a long-term disability and, as a result of that disability they are obliged to incur additional expenditure in connection with their studies, they may be eligible for extra allowances, known as Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA). All research council-funded students are eligible for these allowances.

Disabled Students’ Allowances cover costs relating to additional general expenses, items of equipment, or non-medical assistance during the term of the studentship. Research councils will consider meeting only those costs that are incurred directly and solely as a consequence of taking up a studentship to pursue postgraduate study.

For more information, see the Support for UKRI-funded students page of the UKRI website where you can access the UKRI Disabled Students’ Allowance Framework (DSA).

Please note: the research organisation hosting the studentship applies for DSA and not the student themselves. If you believe you are eligible for DSA, please discuss this with your supervisor and QUARTILES DLA Coordinator quartiles@abdn.ac.uk

Other Useful Resource
The Wellbeing Thesis

Networks

University of Aberdeen, Queen’s University Belfast and their respective student unions have many networks and societies for you to join.

University of Aberdeen:

Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA)

AUSA has many Sports, Societies and Groups

Queen’s Students’ Union

Queen’s Students’ Union has a wide range of Clubs & Societies

Other Communities and Networks

Learn More

Read the resources below to learn more about allyship, white privilege and more. Did you come across any resources that you would like to share? Send them to us at quadrat@abdn.ac.uk

Contact Us

If you have any questions surrounding EDI, please contact Eileen Murphy on eileen.murphy@qub.ac.uk