Minoritised Scholars in Research – Barriers & Support

An in-person meetup tackling challenges minoritised scholars face in research and how to get better support.

Minoritised Scholars in Research – Barriers & Support

This workshop is part of our ongoing joint EDI CoASSH research strategy, which focuses on “Minoritised Scholars in Research: Barriers & Support.” The workshop will explore the systemic challenges faced by scholars from underrepresented backgrounds and discuss strategies for embedding EDI principles into research practice, culture, and leadership.

Organised by: Dr Mahdieh Zeinali (LIBS JEDI Committee) and Dr Sureyya Sonmez Efe (SSPS JEDI Committee) for the EDI CoASSH team at the University of Lincoln.

University of Lincoln, 9th February, 10.30 - 12.30.

In this panel, four scholars share their research and reflections, focusing on the experiences of minoritised scholars and how their lived experiences have shaped their research practices, collaborations, and career trajectories.

External Speaker: Dr. Erisher Woyo

Lecturer in Tourism and Marketing

Editorial Board Member, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights

Manchester Metropolitan University Business School

Bio: Dr. Erisher Woyo is a Lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School whose research examines travel behaviour, consumer behaviour, and sustainability in African contexts, including the roles of gender and disability. His work also analyses how restrictive visa regimes, political instability, and policy failures across Southern Africa undermine mobility and reinforce broader global inequalities.

Title: Passports, power, and punishment: The hidden costs of being an African Scholar

Summary: My talk highlights the unequal realities of academic mobility for African scholars, drawing attention to the everyday barriers that restrict equitable participation in global knowledge-making spaces. Grounded in lived experiences of travelling within Africa and to Europe, it examines how passport insecurity, inconsistent visa regimes, racialised scrutiny at borders, and bureaucratic hostility transform mobility from a professional opportunity into a site of humiliation, anxiety and exclusion. The talk urges institutions to confront the political and uneven terrain of mobility and to abandon the assumption that all scholars can travel freely. For many African academics, mobility is not opportunity; it is punishment disguised as expectation, making urgent institutional recognition and reform essential.

Internal Speaker: Dr. Samira Zare

Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising

Academic Lead for Help To Grow Management Program

Lincoln International Business School

University of Lincoln

Bio: Dr. Samira Zare is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising at the Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln. Her research interests include inequalities in academic mobility, tourists’ border-crossing experiences, migration, contested spaces, and the experiences of Global South scholars and tourists.

Title: Barriers to Knowledge-Making Spaces for Global South Scholars
Summary: My talk draws attention to existing inequalities in academic mobility, particularly international academic mobility to attend conferences, share and receive feedback, and build networks and collaborations, which disproportionately affect scholars from the Global South, shape their career trajectories, and skew knowledge production and dissemination toward Western perspectives. The talk surfaces key challenges and calls for solutions that expand equality and inclusion.

Staff Profile: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/a3e607fd-27a9-47d9-afd8-59155c08c7ad

Internal Speaker: Dr. Aideen O'Shaughnessy

Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Programme Lead Gender Studies MA

School of Social and Political Sciences

University of Lincoln

"Members of the LGBTQ+ community continue to face distinct and often overlooked barriers within the Higher Education sector, both as staff and as students. These challenges include limited representation in faculty and in leadership, inconsistent institutional protections, hostile or exclusionary attitudes, and the pressure to manage or conceal identity in academic contexts. In this short presentation, I will draw on contemporary research and lived experiences to discuss structural issues—such as biased hiring practices, gaps in mentorship, and unequal access to career-advancing networks— which further compound these obstacles, particularly for transgender and gender-diverse scholars and for LGBTQ+ individuals who hold additional marginalized identities, and outline actionable strategies for cultivating safer, more equitable, and more inclusive practices."

Staff Profile: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/93ef90a7-fc8d-4e8a-b6db-ea5af755071f

Internal Speaker: Patrick Edore

PhD Student from the School of Education

Biography: Patrick Edore is a PhD student researching the Black African diaspora in Austria, with a particular focus on the second-generation. He has published several articles on Black Central Europe, a platform documenting the overlooked histories of Black communities in German-speaking Europe. Coming from a non-traditional academic background, he is committed to amplifying underrepresented voices in research.

Presentation Summary: Patrick will reflect on how his positionality as a healthcare professional and minority scholar has shaped his academic journey. Drawing on personal experiences, he will explore the structural barriers faced by minoritised researchers, while also highlighting opportunities for embedding EDI into research culture and leadership.