Cohort 2026 Research Placement Project
About The Project
Black and minority females are one of the most under-represented groups in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Management) apprenticeships across the UK. While national initiatives aim to widen access to technical education and digital careers, the experiences and barriers faced by black and minority females are often overlooked in both research and policy.
In Nottingham, there is a growing regional commitment to inclusive skills development, but little place-based research that explores how structural inequalities, combined with race, gender, and geography, shape access to STEM apprenticeships and Careers. Local employers, educators, and community groups are eager to understand why these disparities persist and how they can be addressed. This project seeks to explore the factors that influence black and minority female participation in STEM apprenticeships and STEM careers in Nottingham. Working in partnership with our community partner, Nottingham City Council, STEMCITY network, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), and the University of Nottingham (UoN), the placement will involve reviewing existing literature and co-creating evidence while engaging with community voices through interviews/co-design focus groups.
The project will co-develop practical recommendations that can support local outreach, recruitment, and retention strategies by the Nottingham City Council and other project beneficiaries. The role that technology can play in enabling some of the solutions needs to be explored. Therefore, the project is led by the supervisors from computer science, though the impact could be on wider apprenticeships in STEM. Banking on the findings and technical expertise of the supervisors, we expect to generate outputs that utilise communication (content for multimedia, social media, blog posts, etc.), technical development (web development, data security measures, etc.) and sustainable community development (e.g. email list, social media community group, etc.) and/or a combination of these (e.g. content that is verified for data security automatically being pushed by the project website to an email list to boost engagement). Outputs will be tailored to the needs identified by the stakeholders, especially the beneficiaries of the project outcomes, and prioritised by the community supervisor, such as a short report, infographics, or community-facing resource(s) which can be used by schools, careers services, and employer networks.
By centring on lived experience and working collaboratively across sectors, this research will inform more equitable pathways into STEM apprenticeships and challenge the structural barriers that prevent diverse talent from entering the region’s growing digital and technical workforce.
Project Aims
The overall aims of the project are:
- To investigate the barriers and enabling factors that affect black and minority female participation in STEM apprenticeships and wider digital careers in Nottinghamshire, particularly in Nottingham City.
- To review existing literature, policies, and datasets related to ethnicity, gender, and access to technical education and apprenticeships.
- To work in partnership with local community organisations, educators, and employers to understand lived experiences through interviews/co-design focus groups, feeding into a survey.
- To co-develop a set of practical, evidence-informed recommendations in the form of a short report that can support more inclusive recruitment, outreach, and retention practices in STEM apprenticeships and wider digital careers.
Project Team
- Research Candidate: Gillian Innocent-Labija
- Lead Supervisor: Dr. Pratik Vyas (Nottingham Trent University)
- Co-Supervisor: Dr. Tominiyi Olupitan (University of Nottingham)
- Community Supervisor: Abigal Greenwood (Nottingham City Council)
- Community Supervisor: Dr. Karen Moss (STEMCITY Network)