The (taxpayer-funded) UKRI’s insane obsession with EDI

Can you even blame Arday for making the most of this ridiculous system?

As many readers will know, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the taxpayer-funded quango that spends “£9 billion of public money” annually on academia. This includes awarding £3.6 million to an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) caucus that Professor Jason Arday is still listed as a co-investigator on.

Understandably, there are lots of discussions around Arday at the moment and how this diversity poster boy rose to such towering success. It makes sense when you see the extreme extent to which UKRI pushes EDI in all its activities, bearing in mind that the UKRI isn’t the only taxpayer-funded body to fund academia – so this is a snapshot of an even bigger picture!


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