Guest Blog: We’re pleased to welcome Simran Kaur, SGSAH’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Associate Director, to the blog. Simran joined SGSAH in May 2026 and also works within the EDI team at the University of Strathclyde as Senior Race and Equalities Officer. In this guest contribution, she shares some reflections from her first few months with SGSAH.
In May 2026, I joined SGSAH as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Associate Director, following the departure of my predecessor, Dr Anindya Raychaudhuri. I spend one day a week with SGSAH and the rest of my time working within the EDI team at the University of Strathclyde, where I am Senior Race and Equalities Officer.
Over the summer, I have been settling into the role, enjoying the opportunity to meet doctoral researchers at the Summer School and Year 2 Residential in Millport, and beginning to explore what my priorities as EDI Associate Director will be over the coming years.
There are still many doctoral researchers I have yet to meet and many conversations still to have before I can fully understand the experiences, needs and concerns of Arts and Humanities doctoral researchers across Scotland. If you would like to chat, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please feel free to get in touch at edi@sgsah.ac.uk.
From translation to EDI
A little about me: I have worked in EDI for just over four years, having previously worked as a translator, both in-house and freelance. My academic background is in modern languages, translation and interpreting, but my interest in EDI began during my time as a student. I studied at the University of Strathclyde and took a sabbatical year to serve as Vice President Diversity at the student union, Strath Union. In that role, I discovered the impact that students can have in shaping their educational experiences and advocating for change within institutions.
These experiences sparked my interest in structural inequalities within higher education. Much of the conversation around equality, diversity and inclusion focuses on supporting individuals. While that remains important, I have become increasingly interested in the systems, cultures and assumptions that shape people’s experiences long before they enter a lecture theatre, seminar room or research environment.
Who is the university designed for?
When students encounter barriers because their needs were never fully considered, we often default to a deficit narrative. We might say, for example, that students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to leave their studies. We might say that students of colour do not attain at the same rates as their white counterparts.
But we should be asking different questions.
What failures or limitations exist within higher education that mean some groups do not have the same opportunities to succeed? What systems, assumptions and expectations shape our experiences long before we arrive at university?
These questions are particularly relevant when we think about widening access to postgraduate and doctoral study. Across the UK, higher education is facing significant financial pressures, and Arts and Humanities disciplines are increasingly required to justify their value in a political environment that prioritises immediate economic returns. At a time when funding is under pressure and opportunities may become more limited, questions of access and participation become even more urgent.
Who has the opportunity to pursue doctoral study? Who must navigate the unspoken rules, norms and expectations that make up the hidden curriculum? Whose talent and potential are overlooked because they do not fit traditional assumptions about what an academic looks or sounds like, or how they behave?
For me, conversations about widening access cannot be separated from wider discussions about class, racism, gender, disability and other systems of power that shape people’s lives and opportunities.
Language, accent and belonging
I recently had a fascinating conversation with a doctoral researcher about the use of dialects, or their absence, and the persistence of accent bias within higher education.
In many Scottish schools, pupils are discouraged or reprimanded for using Scots. By the time they arrive at university, many have internalised the message that there is only one acceptable form of English for academic settings. Research shows that people are frequently judged on the basis of their accent, with assumptions made about their intelligence and competence. These perceptions can have a significant impact on educational and professional experiences.
Universities are not neutral spaces.
I think this illustrates something important. Universities are shaped by particular histories, traditions, norms and expectations, many of which are so deeply embedded that we rarely stop to question them. When certain ways of speaking, writing, researching or producing knowledge are regarded as more legitimate than others, we must ask whose voices are being heard and whose voices are being marginalised. This is one reason why I am particularly drawn to the Arts and Humanities. These disciplines encourage us to think critically about culture, power, language, history and identity. They provide us with the tools not only to understand how inequalities are reproduced, but also to imagine how they might be challenged.
Widening participation at SGSAH
SGSAH’s commitment to supporting doctoral researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds provides an important opportunity to continue these conversations. Our commitment to widening participation is also reflected in the Stuart Hall Fellowships, which support doctoral researchers from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds and are delivered in partnership with the Stuart Hall Foundation.
SGSAH’s 2026 Summer School opened with a keynote from Jeff Derksen, Professor, Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies at Simon Fraser University in Canada. His question, “What Kind of University Do We Want?”, sparked a fascinating discussion about the past, present and future of universities, and about how they reflect, reproduce and seek to improve the societies of which they are a part.
During the discussion, students suggested that universities can serve as sites of resistance, protest and experimentation, acting as incubators for broader social justice, anti-colonial and transformative movements. I left the session reflecting on the fact that universities are often institutions of contradiction. They can reinforce existing inequalities while simultaneously, through the efforts of staff and students, creating opportunities to challenge them. The conversations I have had through SGSAH so far have shown me that doctoral researchers have a vital role to play in that process, and I am excited to learn from and work alongside them in the years ahead.
Listening, learning and looking ahead
As I continue settling into my role, I hope to spend more time listening, learning and understanding the experiences of doctoral researchers across Scotland.
Whether your interests lie in widening access, disability inclusion, race equality, class, language, belonging, or any of the many other issues that shape higher education, I would love to hear from you.
You can contact me at edi@sgsah.ac.uk.
We are always seeking new guest bloggers! If you have an idea for a blog post or would like to informally discuss writing for the SGSAH blog please get in touch with Olivia via email at olivia.shaw-lovell@glasgow.ac.uk or connect with the blog on social media.
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