Our vision

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) “Missing Elements” report demonstrated that racial and ethnic inequalities are pervasive in the chemical sciences community both in academia and in industry. We believe that building an inclusive and diverse culture will lead to better science and a more cohesive and successful society. The sentiment is widespread within the scientific community and also acknowledged by policymakers as demonstrated by the recently introduced RSC "inclusion, diversity and wellbeing" key requirements criteria for degree accreditation.

When contributions in chemistry are presented in the “classroom”, they are often confined to examples of white males with a ‘Western’ heritage. As a result, very few students can relate to these individuals, which then contributes to the stigma of studying the subject. There is a need to increase students’ awareness of diverse representation within chemistry by highlighting the contributions from currently overlooked and under-represented backgrounds (including those identifying as female, disabled etc.). Our work aims to inspire students by providing examples of both historical and current scientists to serve as positive role models. Moreover, we aim to enhance the employability of our students and foster a sense of belonging and community by co-creating with them. Although the initial focus of our work is on the chemical sciences, the issue is widespread across various scientific disciplines. We are a consortium of UK universities, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Imperial and the University of Greenwich (UoG). We are producing resources (posters, booklets, sets of slides etc.) to be easily incorporated within the chemistry curriculum by anyone who wishes to use them. We gratefully acknowledge the funding support of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Missing Elements Grant Scheme in the development of this website and resources displayed here.