Diversity and Inclusion in Practice: Hiring International RSE and dRTPs

Presentation for STEP-UP RSLondon 2025 Conference

Abstract: The world, and the UK specifically, is currently very anti-diversity, and anti-inclusion. One way to push back against this - indeed, to step up as a UK-based Ally, is to recruit international RSEs and PhD students into your teams. They can bring a breadth of experience that includes different cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds, as well as different language and domain expertise.

It’s not always straightforward, however, in a hostile environment. This talk will draw from real-world experiences of immigrants, and provide practical tips for how to work around the system to create more inclusive spaces. This is reflected directly in the talk authorship: Aman is an Indian national, currently in the UK on a time and contract bound work visa [1] (obtained it before the rules were made more restrictive [2]) , Yo is a naturalised UK citizen of Israeli/Kiwi background (who was deported twice when they first came to the UK), Sara is a Spanish national with settled status (luckily obtained before Brexit so it didn’t impact her work options).

We will also solicit experiences and advice from the community present at the event, and more widely. We anticipate that eventually a learning module on this topic will be submitted to The Carpentries Incubator [3] for a richer “what you need to know when leading a group of RSEs” lesson.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-cut-migration-and-put-british-workers-first-in-force
[3] https://carpentries-incubator.org