HC Deb 14 May 1998 vol 312 cc188-9W
Dr. Starkey

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of applications, in relation to each of the research councils were from women, for(a) project grants, (b) programme grants, (c) special grants intended for new investigators, (d) studentships and (e) fellowships, in 1997 and each of the two previous years. [40879]

Mr. Battle

The available data are shown in the table.

Dr. Starkey

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of applications from women, in relation to each of the research councils, were successful for(a) project grants, (b) programme grants, (c) special

Research council and year Project Programme Grants Special Studentships Fellowships
Biotechnology and biological sciences
1995 22.3 20.2 18.4 45 0
1996 23.4 22.0 14.3 46 4.6
1997 32.5 29.9 24.1 50 6.4
Engineering and physical sciences
1995 60.7 — n/a 21.4 16.7
1996 49.0 — n/a 21.6 21.1
1997 39.0 — 56.3 23.3 6.9
Economic and social
1995 n/a n/a n/a 27 n/a
1996 n/a n/a n/a 27 n/a
1997 16 n/a n/a 32 n/a
Medical
1995 39 75 n/a 54 19
1996 39 70 n/a 54 34
1997 30 50 n/a 57 n/a
Natural environment
1995 n/a n/a n/a n/a 13
1996 n/a n/a n/a n/a 11
1997 20 6 n/a n/a 14
Particle physics and astronomy
1995 55 — n/a 21 11
1996 67 — n/a 16 17
1997 52 — n/a 15 14

Notes:

1. The EPSRC and PPARC do not distinguish project from programme grants. In addition, the EPSRC figure for these grants and for the special grants is the percentage of applications by women in applications where the gender is known

2. NERC figures for project grants represent NERC non-thematic (responsive) grants, and for programme grants NERC thematic (directed) grants

3. Some Councils do not run special grants intended for new investigators, or are only in the first year of doing so

4. There are no data for studentship applications because, with the exception of the ESRC research studentships, the Research Councils allocate studentships by quota to institutions which are responsible for the subsequent award. The figures given are therefore the percentage of studentships awarded to women, with the exception of the ESRC which shows the percentage of applications for research studentships by women which were successful