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Presently, there are still, lower proportions of engineering students and professionals that are female; with declared disability; from low-socioeconomic; or ethnic minority backgrounds.
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) challenges are compounded by increased risk of poorer Higher Education outcomes, higher unemployment, and reduced translation into management. It is anticipated the next decade will bring further challenges given some of these groups have also been hardest hit by the Covid pandemic.
The Inclusive Engineering Excellence Hub; funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Loughborough University aims to develop knowledge in critical gaps in developing inclusivity in engineering and the discipline of inclusive engineering.
The Inclusive Engineering; People to Products PhDs are part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary research cluster that aims to change the way future engineers are inspired to develop inclusive engineering products and services across a wide range of engineering disciplines. The PhDs join a research team working together across the Loughborough Engineering Schools, supported by the Inclusive Engineering Excellence Hub team of academic staff.
The overarching theme of the Inclusive Engineering; People to Products research cluster is to develop future leaders in engineering with expertise in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practices within engineering research and technology development.
Projects
Companies and universities are seeking EDI champions and leaders in engineering. Fully funded Vice Chancellor’s Scholarships are available to students from diverse engineering backgrounds and data analytics, computer science, social sciences and sociology to work on interconnected projects.
These studentships will develop diverse future leaders with expertise in EDI practices within engineering research and technology development at the discipline level.
In collaboration with industry partners, we are developing the scope for our cluster projects. We consider a wide range of perspectives and voices contributing to project design to improve diversification in the research, enabling effective research action plans and developing an inclusive research culture.
This is an open call PhD aligned to industry partner products and services exemplars, including improving inclusivity of environments and processes within a company, and product design and engineering processes.
An example proposal might be: “Assessing the suitability of digital modelling and measurement systems for improving inclusivity in working environments.” In this example, the Supervisory Team would be Dr Rebecca Grant and Dr Elizabeth Ratcliffe.
You would investigate a wide range of employee needs – chosen before data collection rather than after – where an employee has already been excluded. Using digital modelling and simulation, we can investigate inclusion of people statically in positions when working, but also dynamically, completing tasks and processes. There is a need to investigate the suitability of these digital tools for wider human needs, for example physical and neurodiversity, beyond traditional anthropometry and bodily Finite Element Analysis.
If you have an interesting idea for a research project you would like to undertake, we welcome proposals from students for co-designing projects.
Funding
Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, IT equipment and other support services. University fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, including online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account inflationary pressures.
There are 3 PhD studentships available working across the Loughborough Engineering Schools.
The studentship is for three years full-time or six years part-time and provides a tax-free stipend of £17,668 per annum (pro rata for the part-time) for the duration of the studentship plus tuition fees. UK Home and international applicants are both eligible for this award. Please note that the studentship will be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who have applied to this project. Funding decisions will not be confirmed until July/August 2023.
