All-Party Parliamentary Group on Diversity & Inclusion in STEM
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Diversity and Inclusion in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) aims to promote the inclusion and progression of people from diverse backgrounds in STEM, and to encourage government, parliamentarians, academics, businesses and other stakeholders to work towards a STEM sector that is representative of the population.
Since its formation in 2018 the APPG has undertaken a variety of policy activities relating to STEM and the pursuit of equity in the sector. Beginning with a series of events in 2018 discussing education, industrial strategy, regional disparity and social mobility the Group then moved focus to conduct two in-depth inquiries into equity in STEM education (2020) and equity in the STEM workforce (2021) and a report on regional STEM skills inequity (2023).
Their projects have brought together experts from across STEM and evidence submissions from 100+ organisations to present findings and produce practical sets of recommendations, which the group will continue to promote and action over the coming years.
The APPG previously ran open calls for inquiry subject ideas in 2018 and 2021, which inspired their education and workforce inquiry focus. The purpose of this call for ideas is to explore potential subjects and activities in relation to equality, equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM. In this work the APPG seeks to represent and explore the diversity of views and voices from across STEM.
AAPG would like to invite submissions of potential future activities for the group to undertake. They are interested to hear your suggestions on the following:
Subject area
Previous work has looked in depth at STEM education in England, issues of inequity across the UK workforce, and regional STEM skills inequity. Is there another area you believe would benefit from an in-depth exploration? Should AAPG broaden or narrow our focus?
Based on the feedback we received from the Members of Parliament and Lords in the APPG and other stakeholders, we would particularly welcome submissions in the areas of:
- Diversity and inclusion in AI – for example, what are the opportunities and risks that AI can bring to diversity and inclusion in STEM?
- Inclusive STEM teaching and learning – what classroom approaches are helping to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM?
Type of activity
AAPG's recent work has taken the form of an inquiry into a specific part of the STEM ecosystem and research projects. We are open to undertaking similar type of work again in 2024 but would also like to explore alternative interactive routes of policy analysis and action. Some initial ideas:
- Discussion roundtables
- Inquiry with an evidence submission
- Primary (surveys, interviews etc) or secondary (desk research, economic studies of existing data sets) research
- Analysis or evaluation of existing policies or laws
- Workshops
- Events or debates in Parliament
- Co-creation events or policy hackathons