Guest blog: ‘Diversity in STEM: why it matters more than ever’ – By Gillian Burgess

Dr Gillian Burgess, Site Head of UK Research and Vice President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Board Member of the Science Industry Partnership  (SIP) of employers, sets out the business case for keeping up the momentum on diversity across the science industries.

In January this year, the National Audit Office (NAO) published an important Report on STEM skills in the economy which found that a number of the national initiatives aimed at boosting take-up of STEM education have had a positive impact, with participation levels growing in many areas of the STEM skills pipeline.

However, Amyas Morse, Head of the National Audit Office, added a strong note of caution: “The government faces a complex challenge in encouraging the education pipeline to produce more people with the right STEM skills.”

A key finding of the report was that there is still a persistent gender gap in most science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)) subjects. It starts at A level and continues into higher education, where females made up 38.3 per cent of undergraduate STEM enrolments in 2016, despite accounting for 56.4 per cent of enrolments overall. When it comes to vocational training, females made up only around 8% of STEM apprenticeship starts in 2016/17, despite representing more than 50% of all apprenticeship starts overall.

And we know that this has implications for our scientific workforces, with WISE (the campaign for gender balance in STEM) reporting that women make up 23% of those in core STEM occupations in the UK and 24% of those work in core STEM industries.

Our science sector is increasingly at the forefront of a pioneering approach and we need keep up the momentum on adapting to the benefits we all know that gender and

indeed broader diversity considerations can bring.

But just why is the business case so strong?

The science industries face a significant challenge ahead; the Science Industry Partnership’s (SIP)  Skills Strategy, forecasts the sector’s demand for skilled people out to 2025 – a projection of between 180,000 - 260,000 new scientific staff.

And many of these roles are in areas where the associated technologies are evolving at a fast pace including bioinformaticians, computational scientists, health economists and formulation scientists, as well as in areas such as toxicology, pathology and systems biology.  These newly developing technologies and the increasing use of “big data” are often collectively termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

These are exciting, well paid and creative jobs, with attractive career paths. Indeed many of the new jobs of today and tomorrow will feature STEM in the broadest sense of the word, and we need to support and encourage young people of all genders and backgrounds really to study STEM subjects to the highest levels possible.

Diversity is good for business

Of course closing the skills gap is not the only reason to consider diversity.

We now have the evidence to demonstrate that greater diversity is correlated with both profitability and value creation. McKinsey’s latest study of diversity in the workplace, Delivering Through Diversity reaffirms the  link between diversity (defined as a greater proportion of women and a more mixed ethnic and cultural composition) and significant company financial outperformance.

None of this is a surprise, given that diverse thinking leads to new ideas and in turn innovation and then commercial success.  The definition of diversity says it all – “many different types of thinking or people being included in something; a range of different things or people.”

People are now recognising that diversity is not about “doing good”, or about special treatment or occasional campaigns. Putting diversity at the heart business means providing an inclusive environment for different voices, viewpoints and backgrounds.

The SIP recognises that taking action means showing what works well – and spreading the message into schools through its SIP Ambassador Network, which is, interestingly, comprised of 240 females and 156 males – reflecting members’ commitment to showcasing their female talent in the community and boosting their own diversity through outreach.

We are also developing Apprenticeship Case Studies of a range of young people who are excelling in STEM, undertaking higher level apprenticeships, winning awards for their work and undertaking careers outreach in their local area.

Under-representation of any group in our Sector – including groups such as women returners, black, asian and minority ethnic individuals (BAME) or older workers – means a loss of vital talent to the workforce and lost opportunities for individuals. We all need to work to reduce the participation gap that means many potential STEM-skilled people are being lost to our companies and to our economy.

Keeping up the momentum towards changing the culture within the science sector remains critical – and we all have a part to play. It’s easy set up targets, but the reality is that it is about education and training.  Increased use of on-the-job training opportunities through apprenticeships an ideal way to open up our sector to a much broader range of candidates.

The benefits of a diverse workforce are worth it – the business case is overwhelming.