At Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), our mission is to unite the UK’s health and care data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives. We want the UK to be the place of vital research and innovation using health data. Embracing diversity and empowering women is key to us achieving this.

Our Diversity and Inclusion strategy launched in 2020. A key focus of our strategy has since been to address the underrepresentation of women within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) – especially those women from Black and ethnic minority groups.

Through our 2021 Health Data Science Black Internship Programme, we offered 48 internships at 23 of our partner organisations – 30 of which went to Black women. Since, we have also launched a new recruitment process that aims to tackle unconscious bias in recruitment and allow for a more diverse workplace.

We still have a long way to go, but we will continue to listen and learn from others, so that we can evolve how we deliver our diversity and inclusion work.

We are passionate about helping to create a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. We hope that our efforts can help to ensure that women from all backgrounds can thrive in their STEM careers. #BreakTheBias

Find out more about International Women’s Day

Read Tammy’s article with Bloomberg