WAARC: Wellcome Anti-Ableist Research Culture

Universities, funders and researchers are in the midst of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion revolution.

The recognition that university research cultures are exclusionary has now become part of everyday discourse and we are witnessing more and more interventions to promote positive research culture, policy and practice.

Too often, however, disability and disabled researchers and research support colleagues are sidelined in EDI discourse and practice. WAARC addresses this omission.

We will bring together academic, postgraduate (PGRs), early career (ECRs) and contract researchers and professional services colleagues to develop a suite of activities that centre disability and contest systemic ableism in relation to three Priority Areas: Environment, Development and Collaboration.

Environment will experiment with new ideas for inclusive recruitment and employment.

Development will produce new guidelines on accessible research events and deliver a new course on inclusive research methods to raise capacities of all researchers (with a specific focus on PGRs and ECRs). Collaboration will continue to put disabled people front and centre.

We will offer funding, via an Open Call, to other researchers and professional services colleagues to produce their own inclusive research projects and we will revisit the Concordat on Researcher Development to ensure inclusivity.