FOI release

FOI2020/00312: Fellowship Applicants

This request was refused in part, so we didn't provide some of the information the requester asked for. This may include information where we can neither confirm nor deny that we hold it.

Case reference FOI2020/00312

Published 1 July 2021

Request

Request Received: 22 September 2020

For the NERC independent research fellowships with a closing date in 2019, please would you tell me:

The number of applicants who were female
The number of applicants who were male

Response

Response sent: 19 October 2020

I can confirm UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) hold information relevant to your request. Please see the information below.

The number of applicants for the NERC Independent Research Fellowships from the 2019 call:

• who were female was 40
• who were male was 85

Please note, that for counts of five and greater, all numbers have been rounded to the nearest multiple of five.

The number of applicants who did not disclose their gender is being withheld under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to protect anonymity, as the number of applicants relates to fewer than five. Section 40(2) FOIA is an absolute exemption and does not require a public interest test. This information is also being withheld as disclosing this information would contravene the first Data Protection Principle as defined under Section 86 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 5 of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016 of lawfulness, fairness and transparency.

The recently published open letter from Professor Susan Waldron, Director, Research and Skills for NERC, on the NERC website may also be of relevance to you as this addressed concerns regarding gender equality.

Documents

• FOI_Response_Letter_FOI2020_00312_Redacted.pdf (149.6 KB)

This is UK Research and Innovation's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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