Creating a Network of Support for Racially Minoritised Women PGRs
On September 26th 2025, we welcomed Professor Donna Chambers from Generation Delta, who presented on this four-year project to improve the experiences and outcomes for Black, Asian and minority ethnic female students in postgraduate research.
To kick off the event, UKCGE trustee, Professor Luke Windsor introduced the session and described some of the project’s background, which has been funded by Research England as part of a series of projects on improving racial equity within higher education.
He then introduced Professor Donna Chambers – one of six female professors of colour who have led the Generation Delta Project (the others are Professor Uma Kambhampati, Professor Shaofeng Liu, Professor Amaka Offiah, Professor Farzana Shain and Professor Iyiola Solanke). Professor Chambers – who is currently based at Northumbria University – is a specialist in the tourist and heritage industries as well as being a passionate advocate for equity, justice, anti-racism and anti-discrimination within the university community and the wider society.
“I’m really pleased to be here today to talk about Generation Delta,” said Professor Chambers before turning to some of the inspirations behind the project. She explained that they had all realised that there were low levels of racially minoritised women both on UK postgraduate courses, as well as in the professoriate. She also mentioned the Phenomenal Women show (a photographic exhibition comprising portraits of racially minoritised professors, shown at the Southbank Centre in autumn 2020) as another important driver in the decision to apply for funding.
She then turned to the Generation Delta project itself, explaining that they have long-term ambitions to improve the representation of Black students at PGR level and to lay the foundations for an increase in the number of racially minoritised females gaining professorships in higher education institutions in England. She explained how the project had moved through three phases: Access to PGR study, Retention and Progression, and Career Development and Progression. She added that it was not about “fixing” the women; they looked instead at the structural barriers at work in higher education, and made it a priority to have discussions at institutional level as well as with individuals.
Generation Delta was launched in 2022 and officially closes in January 2026. Professor Chambers took us through some of the outputs including 12 full-day student workshops; two full-time conferences; and 12 roundtables from staff and partner institutions, with around 500 racially minoritised women having benefitted from the initiative. She quoted some of the participant feedback, noting that the idea of having a safe space came out repeatedly.
She also spoke about Generation Delta’s Brave Space Mentoring Programme which is designed to help female doctoral students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds to navigate through key stages of their doctoral journey. The topics covered include — but are not limited to — career progression; curriculum vitae advice; difficult conversations; public speaking; time management and writing for publication.
“That’s what we’ve done so far, but we also feel it’s important to put forward recommendations to our institutions,” added Professor Chambers. She then shared a sample of these.
Questions followed Professor Chambers’ main presentation and then a breakout session was held in which participants added comments to a Padlet. At the end of the event, attendees rejoined the main session for reflections and takeaways on best practice.