UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has been told that it must regain the trust of an equality advisory body after the science secretary, Michelle Donelan, was forced to pay damages to one of its members.
UKRI said it would “warmly invite” Research England’s expert advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) to reconvene, having suspended it last October when Ms Donelan claimed that members had shared “extremist” and “unacceptable” views on social media after that month’s attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent retaliation against Gaza.
Ms Donelan has now agreed to pay £15,000 – with taxpayers footing the bill – to Kate Sang, professor of gender and employment studies at Heriot-Watt University, for suggesting that she had expressed support for Hamas. An independent investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by members of the panel, including its chair, Kamna Patel, a development studies academic at UCL, who had also been singled out by the minister.
Announcing the outcome of that investigation, UKRI had said that it “regrets any difficulties” experienced by members of the advisory panel during the suspension, and that it would be keen for them to “contribute their expertise as we resume the group’s important work”.
