A photograph of the circular lights in the Advanced Research Centre, looking up through the sky lights.

Inclusive Research Practice at UofG

Research thrives in a dynamic mix of ideas, inputs and impulses. Inclusive Research Practice (IRP) helps us make that mix happen. IRP gives us the tools to:

  • build creative collaborations and careers;
  • support everyone to make the contributions they want to make;
  • do inclusion meaningfully, as a valuable and valued aspect of how our research is done, not just a box ticking exercise.  

Browse these web pages to learn more about how our IRP projects and initiatives can support your inclusive research practice, at the University of Glasgow and beyond.  

Inclusion at UofG

Diversity Data for Research & Knowledge Exchange

Find out how to request diversity data for your projects, funding initiative or research unit.

Demystifying RKE Roles

How can you shape the research ecology at the University of Glasgow? How can you support others to consider RKE roles in their career?

IRP Work in Progress Papers

Learn more about our IRP approach and how we talk about diversity and inclusion in research.

IRP Contacts

Please contact the University's Academic Lead for Inclusive Research Practice, Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof, with your questions, suggestions and ideas, for instance about:

  • your research projects, initiatives, committees or units, and how to improve inclusion and diversity through them;    
  • the IRP projects, initiatives and documents featured on these pages;
  • using data for action and improving inclusion in research;
  • anything related to inclusion or diversity research that you have come across elsewhere.

Please refer to the Equality and Diversity Unit web pages for:

Why are there no people in the pictures?

Inclusive Research Practice is about people. So why don’t we use pictures with people on our web pages?  

Pictures of people are not that helpful for illustrating inclusion. Visual representations of identity tend to prioritise cues for some identities (e.g. race, age) over others (e.g. class, refugee status). They also often reinforce stereotypes of what, for instance, gender, disability or sexual orientation ‘look like’.  

Instead, we have chosen pictures of specific University of Glasgow buildings. These buildings are named after people with identity characteristics that continue to be associated with inequality of access and opportunity in the UK’s research communities. The buildings featured in our pictures are:

The Clarice Pears Building - home to our School of Health and Wellbeing, the building is named after Clarice Pears, the mother of the three founders of the Pears Foundation. Clarice Pears was born in 1933 and lived in a tenement flat in Lochside Street, Shawlands. Her parents were Abraham and Hannah Castle, and her father worked in an electrical retail shop. The Pears Foundation donated £5 million to the construction of the building.

James McCune Smith Learning Hub - Our Learning Hub is named after James McCune Smith, the first African American to be awarded a medical degree, receiving an MD from the University of Glasgow in 1837. McCune Smith was born into slavery in 1813, however was freed by New York State's Emancipation Act on July 4, 1827. McCune Smith went on to gain three qualifications from the University of Glasgow - a bachelor's degree in 1835, a master’s degree in 1836, and his medical doctorate in 1837. Upon returning to New York McCune Smith set up medical practice in lower Manhattan and grew to be recognised as a prominent figure in the New York black community and a leading intellectual.‌

Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre - named after Glasgow graduate John Shaw and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. John Shaw and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw turned Biocon, Kiran’s biotech company, into one of India’s largest and most successful biopharmaceutical firms with a mission to bring affordable access to a speciality portfolio of medicines. The couple gifted $7.5million to the University in July 2019. Their gift to the University complements philanthropic investments made across the world, stimulating research and innovation and supporting education. The University wanted to recognise the civic commitment of the couple by naming the building after them. 

Molema Building - named after Dr Silas Modiri Molema. Silas Modiri Molema was a prominent South African medical practitioner and political figure. Born in 1891 in Mahikeng, South Africa, he was educated at Lovedale Institution and worked as a teacher until 1914 when he moved to Europe. Dr Molema received his medical degree from the University of Glasgow in 1919.

Naming buildings is, of course, not all there is to inclusion. But we hope this is a less imperfect option than ‘picturing diverse groups of people’.    

Know of a University building that you’d like to see featured? Contact researchculture@glasgow.ac.uk with your suggestions.