The power of diversity on progress and innovation

The resources on this page looks at how a lack of diversity in STEM stifles innovation.

Questions to consider as you review the resources on this page:

Which elements (which are within your power as a GTA to facilitate) need to be in place in a group dynamic for all members to feel able to contribute diverse and sometimes conflicting viewpoints and experiences in a constructive way?
How do your students respond when faced with working with students from different backgrounds? What are the challenges for them?

"There's a growing recognition that homogenous work teams are significantly less effective at solving complex problems than teams that include people of varied classes, races, genders and cultural backgrounds. In addition, researcher bias is more pronounced in teams made up of one demographic group...it (diversity) is not just a nice thing to add on to a campus culture."

McGee, E (2020)

How diversity makes teams more innovativeAre diverse companies really more innovative? Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out -- and the answer was a clear yes. In a talk that will help you build a better, more robust company, Lorenzo dives into the data and explains how your company can start producing fresher, more creative ideas by treating diversity as a competitive advantage.

The lack of meritocracy in academia is a problem that should concern all of us if we care about the quality of the research that comes out of the academy, because studies show that female academics are more likely than men to challenge male-default analysis in their work. This means that the more women who are publishing, the faster the gender data gap in research will close. And we should care about the quality of academic research. This is not an esoteric question, relevant only to those who inhabit the ivory towers. The research produced by the academy has a significant impact on government policy, on medical practice, on occupational health legislation. The research produced by the academy has a direct impact on all of our lives. It matters that women are not forgotten here.

Criado Perez, 2021

Neurodiversity at Sheffield

This page includes six short videos from colleagues at Sheffield who identify as neurodiverse talking about their experiences and the importance of diverse ways of thinking

"It's so important to make clear that tackling sexism in no way translates to a suggestion that all men are sexist...Many of the issues impacting on men are rooted in the very same gender imbalance than negatively impacts on women. The irony is that we are on the same side here. Feminists would love fair, shared parental leave: it would shift patriarchal assumptions about women's careers being the ones to be compromised by having children and create a much more equal professional playing field...The fact that seeking help for depression and mental-health issues can be seen as a 'weakness, and is therefore incredibly difficult for men to do -which perhaps impacts on the male suicide rate -is an aspect of gender norms that paint men as strong and manly and women as weak and in need of protection....so many of the issues we are dealing with are simply different sides of the same coin."

Bates, 2014

Why gender equality is good for everyone — men includedYes, we all know it's the right thing to do. But Michael Kimmel makes the surprising, funny, practical case for treating men and women equally in the workplace and at home. It's not a zero-sum game, but a win-win that will result in more opportunity and more happiness for everybody.

How white engineers built racist code – and why it's dangerous for black peopleAs facial recognition tools play a bigger role in fighting crime, inbuilt racial biases raise troubling questions about the systems that create them

Teams that are gender, age and ethnically diverse make better decisions up to 87% of the time

Businesses with a good mix of ethnic backgrounds are 33% more likely to outperform their competitors.

Businesses with a healthy balance of men and women are 21% more likely to outperform their competitors.

(Global Diversity Practice)

"Could diverse teams outperform teams of high-ability people? There is one famous example involving the game of chess. On June 21, 1999, Garry Kasparov began a game of chess against approximately 50,000 other players. At the time, Kasparov was the reigning world champion. Some of these people in the group that he was playing were rank amateurs. MSN.com sponsored the game to show the power of the Internet in performing collective problem solving. Kasparov moved first. Each subsequent move took place forty-eight hours later. To determine their move, the people playing Kasparov posted notes to a bulletin board and voted on what to do.

These people had some help. Each time the crowd had to make a move, a team of young chess masters, none older than twenty, proposed an initial set of possible moves. Though great young chess players, they were not of the caliber of Kasparov. At the end of the forty-eight hours, a vote was held. The move that received the most votes was then played. Kasparov then had forty-eight hours to make his next move. After sixty-two moves, Kasparov won. In chess, sixty-two moves suggests a close game. The collection of people performed far better than would be expected of any of its members individually".

S.E Page, 2008

International students boost UK economy by £41.9 billion - HEPINew data reveals that the intake of international students in the 2021/22 academic year contributed a huge £41.9 billion to the UK economy. A new report, The costs and benefits of international higher education students to the UK, published jointly by Universities UK International (UUKi), the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and Kaplan International Pathways in […]

Sheffield among UK cities that benefit the most from international students

International students in Sheffield have the third greatest impact on the UK’s economy, according to a new report published this week (16 May 2023).

New report reveals the impact that international students have on the UK’s economy
Figures show that international students in Sheffield had the third highest impact on the UK’s economy in 2021/22
International students studying at Sheffield’s two universities had £273 million net impact on the UK
Even when accounting for dependants and other costs international students are a huge net contributor to the UK economy, according to analysis