Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

Our research

Published in 2023, the Bristol Plan for Migrant Learners offers recommendations to improve the support available to young displaced people and refugees. Working with professionals from across Bristol, a team from the University examined the support systems around young learners, identifying areas of key importance such as housing stability, and the need for a collaborative, coordinated approach.

Research at the University in 2022/23 has highlighted multiple areas where inequalities are having a significant impact on health and wellbeing outcomes. One area is the failure of mental health services to recognise the influence of social factors, particularly racism, both as a cause of mental ill-health and as a driver of poor treatment. Research also showed that nearly half of disabled households (48%) have struggled to keep their home warm and comfortable at some point this year, compared to 30% of non-disabled households. A significantly larger proportion of unexplained infant deaths occurred among children living in the most deprived neighbourhoods, according to new findings. All three studies led to recommendations around improvements to health, care, and tackling structural and social inequalities in order to improve health and wellbeing.

Our students

The University remains committed to the decolonisation of our curriculum. Many of our schools are actively working to change this, including the School for Policy Studies which has set up the Inclusive Curriculum Committee (ICC), in collaboration with students, to review teaching units from a broad EDI perspective. The School of Biological Sciences launched a project to decolonise and diversify the curriculum, working with students to review taught materials and understand staff and students' perspectives. The 3R framework – Rediscovery, Representation, Readiness – has since been created through this project to support others.

Students with disabilities can sometimes face additional challenges at university. At Bristol, we offer personalised study support plans to help each person with adjustments and support that meet their individual needs. We also have a dedicated Disability Team to help students access funding and specialist assistance such as notetakers, readers, and study skills tutors. Each School has a Disability Coordinator to provide students with subject-specific help, and training is available for all staff on supporting students with disabilities.

Our communities

The Creative Connections project, a collaboration between Bristol researchers and mothers from one of the city’s most deprived areas, has resulted in a new campaign calling for parents’ experiences to be more valued and their voices heard. The feedback from mothers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was turned into artwork by a local artist, creating a series of posters and billboards which were displayed around the city. The posters featured quotes from the mothers, raising awareness of the challenges families face in the wake of the pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Feedback from the group has since formed a policy paper advocating for change, focusing on parents as experts and the importance of listening to their experiences and needs.

Geological collections are unique resources that can connect us with the natural world, and with history. However, knowledge can be biased, focused on information and classifications shaped by the global north, and omitting cultural, historical or indigenous links. The School of Earth Sciences’ Global Heritage, Local History project, running in 2023, aims to redress this balance by collaborating with diverse communities to recognise and reflect on the historical, cultural and colonial legacies that influence our understanding of artefacts such as stones, gems, crystals and minerals from India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Ourselves

The University’s Anti-Racism Steering Group was established in 2020 as a time-limited group tasked with identifying action and setting the strategic direction for anti-racism across the university. In 2022, this evolved into the Anti-Racism Working Group, which is refreshing our institutional commitments to anti-racism and finalising an evidence-based action plan. One part of this work was the development of a new anti-racism training programme, with almost 1,000 staff participating in the first phase of the training. The suite of cultural competence training modules for staff has been extended to include supporting students from refugee, asylum seeker or other forced migration backgrounds.

Mentoring is a powerful way for students to be supported with building their confidence and preparing for their careers after graduation, including planning for and applying to graduate roles and programmes. We have established a range of mentoring schemes across the University, including a new trans and non-binary student mentoring programme launched in 2022/23, a Black mentorship event in the Faculty of Engineering, and peer mentoring for first year undergraduates with an option to be matched based on a protected characteristic.