Of the 575 chemistry teachers in the UK, only one is black.
In the 15 years that Robert Mokaya has been a professor at the University of Nottingham, Britain’s main chemistry funding body, now called the UK Research and Innovation Agency, has turned down all of his requests for funding for research projects. .
“That’s not typical of a teacher,” he tells me phlegmatically.
“I have published research papers that I hoped would have enabled me to get funding to do follow-up research.
“I wonder if this is typical of someone with my kind of last name.
“It’s been very, very difficult,” he says.
Funding requests are reviewed and decided by expert colleagues in the field whose names are not published, but the reviewers know the name of the applicant.
Despite constant rejections of funding requests, Robert has done very well. He is a leading materials chemist, specializing in the study of materials for sustainable energy storage and has had numerous publications in scientific journals.
He was able to do his research thanks to funding from charities and scientific societies, such as the Royal Society, which funds only researchers it believes have a record of excellence in their work.
Robert also received an OBE this year for services to the chemical sciences and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
The RSC has published research showing that racism is “widespread” in the countryside. The report finds that it is “hard to challenge” and that the marginalization of minorities has become “normalized” in universities and industry.
The research also confirms Robert’s experience in finding that minority researchers are less likely to get grants, promotions, and are paid significantly less. In 2019/20, the average grant for a chemical sciences researcher from an ethnic minority was £320,000, compared to £355,000 for white colleagues.
The executive director of the RSC, Dr. Helen Pain, described the stories of discrimination she had seen as part of the investigation as “shocking”.
“Unfortunately, racism is a reality of the chemical sciences, just as it is in society in general,” he told BBC News.
“We need to do better. We need to make a difference.
In response to the report, Professor Melanie Welham, UKRI’s executive champion for people, culture and talent, told BBC News the agency was reviewing its processes to address concerns about unequal treatment.
“We know we must do more and we are committed to doing so.”
“This includes testing and learning how to incorporate effective equality, diversity and inclusion practices into our peer review and assessment practices, such as through double-blind review, and enabling applicants to demonstrate their contributions in a broader range of ways.” .
The RSC report also shows that ethnic minority students are interested in studying chemistry at university, but are discouraged by what they perceive as an unwelcoming atmosphere of academic research. This is especially true of black students and researchers.
Official figures show that, at undergraduate level, 4.9% of students studying chemistry-related subjects identify as black, significantly more than the national 3.0% of the UK population. But most choose not to participate in the research. The dropouts at each stage of the career ladder: 1.4% of graduate chemistry researchers identify as black, 1% of professors, and 0% of professors.
“I do not exist!” Robert laughs.
There are no black professors in the official statistics because the number 1 is rounded to zero for accounting purposes. However, Robert’s good humor fades when he tells me about his journey to become the only black chemistry teacher in the UK. He says, “It’s been a struggle.”
“In academia, you have to get signals from higher-ranking colleagues that it’s time to apply for a higher-ranking position that comes along. Early in my career, the signals I got are that this isn’t the place for you and That’s not the right one.” time for you.
”This was the hardest part of my career and this is where the main block for black chemists is. Once I broke through and got connected, everything got better.”
Sandile Mtetwa is a black doctoral student at the University of Cambridge. She co-founded a group for African students studying science subjects. She says that many of them have decided not to fight. Instead, they decided to get jobs in the private sector because they felt there was “bias” and that they would not be supported if they pursued academic research.
“The chemical sciences community is very network driven. You have to know someone to follow,” he tells me.
”Someone older has to support you, help you get a job, help you get a grant. If someone up there isn’t cheering you on, there’s not much you can do about it.”
The CSR report says that there is little incentive for chemical organizations to improve. Most of the initiatives are voluntary and appear to have limited impact, he says.
It finds that only 21 universities out of 93 that signed up for the award have a bronze Race Equality Charter award, administered by the higher education charity advance HE. None have received a silver or gold award, despite the scheme being launched in 2016. Similarly, 37% of FTSE 100 companies have no ethnic minority representation on their board, despite the target set by an independent review, also in 2016, of having a minority ethnic director on each board by 2021.
The RSC has launched a race and ethnicity unit to drive change in organisations. It has also set up a five-year mentoring scheme to help school graduates pursue chemistry-focused degrees and is working with employers to provide job opportunities for ethnic minority students and help them with their career progression.
Robert Mokaya says he hopes these initiatives will bring about change for the next generation of ethnic minority chemical scientists.
“I worry about those who go through the system.
“I don’t think it’s fair that those who get to a high-level position in chemical sciences have to go through what I have had to go through.”
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