Tackling tech’s big diversity problem starts with education
WiredIn 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests that followed the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis made millions reflect on their own role in perpetuating social inequity and systemic racism. In 2019, Black people made up only three per cent of the UK tech workforce – and only 2.6 per cent of UK technology company board members are from ethnic-minority backgrounds. In the UK, only 2.2 per cent of school teachers, 0.65 per cent of university professors, and 15 of the 445 people who graduated with postgraduate research degrees in computer science in 2018/19 are Black. Many organisations are doing great work: OpenAI offers scholarships to people from under-represented groups who want to study deep learning, and DeepMind, which I work for, has collaborated with more than 20 universities around the world to expand its own scholarship programme – which is focused on increasing representation at the postgraduate level through mentorship and financial support. Organisations will collaborate across sectors to proactively remove barriers to access and articulate a vision of life for Black people in science and technology at every level.
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