Race Equality Policy

BERA has redeveloped the previously agreed ambitious policy and action plan for addressing racial inequities within the Association and within the wider research community to build on the progress made throughout the previous iteration of the action plan (2021-2023), and to ensure that we are continuously evolving our aims in advancing racial equity. We continue to stress our commitment to bringing BERA’s resources and expertise to bear on wider issues of inequality and discrimination in education and society. 

The full, copy edited and designed version of the policy will be published soon. The plan presented on this page was presented to the membership at the 2024 AGM. 

The policy – which affirms BERA’s rejection of any form of discrimination on grounds of sex, gender, gender reassignment, age, race, ethnic or national origins, colour, marital status, sexuality, family responsibility, disability or impairment, religious or other beliefs – is specifically concerned with tackling racial discrimination. Other, wider equality issues are being addressed in other ways across the organisation. 

In developing this policy and action plan, BERA intends to change the structural and institutional inequities and unjust power imbalances that affect our members and the wider research community – and which impede BERA’s work by denying us the benefits and advantages that diversity offers. BERA is committed to an equal opportunity approach to all our internal and external processes, including recruitment, selection, appraisal, training and promotion across the organisation. Our selection and assessment criteria and procedures will be monitored and reviewed to ensure that both processes and criteria do not discriminate unfairly or perpetuate inequalities.

More broadly, it recognises the need to measure the success of this policy and its associated action plan, and to adjust and develop it accordingly.  This policy and the associated action plan should not be seen as an exhaustive list of actions: they are designed to complement other strategies and initiatives (such as the existing events programme and funding opportunities) and we welcome feedback on all aspects of this policy. The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of all BERA members, trustees, staff, and those engaged with BERA activities to create a diverse and inclusive research community.

To realise our objectives, we have developed an action plan that contains specific targets and means to achieve them. Every year in an annual report, we will evaluate this action plan, publish the relevant data on an annual basis to the membership, and assess progress against the targets within it, in order to hold our academic and professional leadership to account. The updates are routinely discussed by BERA Council, presented at the BERA Annual General Meeting and published at the bottom of this page.

The BERA Code of Conduct can be found here.