For a long time, science has been dominated by white men and the world of meteorology is no exception. An investigation for UEA Journalism has revealed a lack of non-white people studying for and entering a career in weather forecasting.
To understand how diversity varies in this industry, freedom of information requests were sent to the Met Office and the three UK universities who teach courses with ‘meteorology’ in the title. The responses provide an insight into the gender and ethnic diversities of this field.
Our research found that the Met Office is less diverse than meteorology-based university courses, with a higher proportion of men and a higher proportion of white people than the general population.
According to the 2021 Census, 18% of people living in England and Wales are from BAME backgrounds. However, within the Met Office, the percentage of BAME meteorologists is much lower, approximately 4-7%.
In addition, the percentage of white meteorologists at the Met Office has increased from approximately 74% to around 83% over the past six years.
Misha Gul Khan, who works as a Strategic Business Manager in the International Development team at the Met Office, says a number of steps are being taken to redress the issue: “We’re looking at diverse interview panels, we have something called a diversity dashboard to look at the protected characteristics across each directorate in the Met Office to give us a baseline to see how things have changed.
“We change up the material that we have on our website and social media to make that more diverse.”
She said the Met Office is also working with the Cabinet Office on a diversity internship programme.
Our research also found that at university students on meteorology-based courses are predominantly white although the figures are closer to that of the general population.
According to HESA, 27% of university enrolments in the 2021/22 academic year were BAME students. For meteorology-based degrees, we estimate the percentage of BAME students enrolling in 2021/22 to be approximately 25% – close to or just below the national average.
- The split between binary genders (male and female) is more equal.
Where numbers were so small that individuals could potentially be identified, both the University of East Anglia and University of Reading displayed these as ‘less than or equal to four’. This means it was impossible to know the exact number of people in that field. However, in order to understand the trends within this industry, any number less than or equal to four has been rounded up and assumed as ‘four’. Therefore, it shows the highest possible count of people in that field. In reality, numbers are likely to be lower.
The Met Office responded slightly differently, giving no indication of true numbers where the count was small. This means it is impossible to know how many people selected ‘I identify in another way’, although we can assume the number is small. It also means that numbers of people who selected non-white ethnicities were not revealed. However, taking the number of meteorologists who responded to the gender questions and subtracting the number of meteorologists who identify as ‘white’, ‘not declared’ or ‘prefer not to say’, we can assume that the remaining number must identify as another ethnicity and we get a rough estimate.
It’s important to note that, while gender and ethnic diversity is low, other protected characteristics were not investigated in this study, so diversity may exist in other ways.
Despite uncertainty in true numbers due to the limitations of this investigation, it is clear that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are not represented in this industry.
Misha describes the Met Office as “a great place to work” but also says “it’s lacking in diversity and the most visible area where it is lacking is probably ethnic diversity”.
In 2020, she set up the BAME Staff Network to provide a safe space for colleagues to share thoughts and raise any concerns. She wants to ensure that, although it’s not currently very diverse, the Met Office “can be a home for those that are from an ethnic background”.
“If you go on the website, if you look at material and stuff, you just primarily only see white faces and so it is really hard to imagine yourself working or maybe even moving to Exeter and away from your home, your family, your friends.
“So it’s also a way to share to those outside of the Met Office that there is a space for you.”
Met Office Chief Executive, Professor Penny Endersby, highlighted the lack of ethnic diversity during her very first tour of the Met Office. This is what inspired Misha to create the BAME Staff Network, of which Professor Endersby is a sponsor.
“She’s very keen to understand what our needs and wants are as employees.
“We now have a dedicated team focussed towards improving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Met Office and a range of networks alongside the BAME network who continually seek to enhance Met Office staff experiences.”
Misha thinks the main barrier for BAME people getting into meteorology is visibility. While other scientific careers have much more diversity, such as medicine and pharmaceuticals, she describes meteorology as “a sparse area” for diversity.
Dr Fazil Baksh, from the Univeristy of Reading, is the school director of WIDE (Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality) for Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences, which is home to the Meteorology department. He echoes Misha’s thoughts on visibility.
“Talking as a non-white person, many people who do maths and science-related subjects at A levels, maybe they don’t see a space for them here, partly because of the lack of role models.
“So, one of things we’re trying to do is ensure that we give visibility to people who can serve as role models.
“The head of our Meteorology department, she’s a professor of Paleoclimatology, her name is Joy Singarayer, she’s non-white and so she has a very high-profile position within the Meteorology department.”
As well as improving visibility of role models, the University of Reading are working to create a supportive and nurturing environment so that students can “realise their full potential”.
When asked what they were doing to encourage diversity and inclusivity, the University of Edinburgh shared this information, saying they “value diversity and (are) committed to equality in education”.
The University of East Anglia (UEA) no longer run their Meteorology and Oceanography degree but remain a world-leading institute for climate and atmospheric science.
A UEA spokesperson said: “The Faculty of Science has two Widening Participation Academic Officers that are part of a team committed to ensuring people from under-represented groups in Higher Education can access the same opportunities as others.
“This work is part of the University’s Office for Students approved Access and Participation Plan.
“We work with schools and colleges across Norfolk and North Suffolk, from primary to sixth forms and colleges, whose cohort typically have a lower participation to Higher Education.”
As well as approving Access and Participation plans for universities around the country, the Office for Students (OfS) help to fund various projects to support BAME students, aiming to widen participation and help young people to make informed choices.
John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS, said: “We know that there are multiple, significant risks to the equality of opportunity for black and ethnic minority students in higher education, both in terms of access and achieving positive outcomes.
“Our equality of opportunity risk register sets out risks universities and colleges need to consider in their access and participation plans, which includes issues affecting black and ethnic minority students.
“The register not only highlights the importance of supporting these students, but also how evaluation to determine effective practice is vital to ensure that all students can access and succeed in their educational journey.”
Although plenty of work is being done to improve diversity and inclusion within meteorology, visibility of role models is of vital importance. As both Misha and Fazil highlighted, this is something that needs to be improved. The cliched phrase ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ really does ring true in this industry.