The two year project includes six activities - undertaken across the 15 organisations - that are designed to help address the problem of entrenched under-representation. These include Shared Characteristic Mentoring: matching junior staff members from under-represented backgrounds with more senior colleagues who share characteristics, identities, and experiences; Reverse Mentoring, in which staff from under-represented groups in engineering and physical sciences mentor senior staff about the challenges they face and, in return, are coached on their career development; and collaborating with industry, including conducting research workshops and outreach activities.

The motivation behind the project - part of a bigger, £5.5 million national initiative - is to create a more inclusive culture in the sector, which will lead to a more diverse talent pool and, ultimately, better science and engineering to address complex and pressing global challenges.