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This study aims to explore the opinions of Built Environment Professionals (BEP) on the usage of fourth-generation digital technologies in the construction industry.

This study adopts a qualitative research approach and conducts semi-structured interviews with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals to explore the adoption and utilisation of fourth-generation digital technologies in the construction industry. The semi-structured interviews allowed the participants to elaborate on their experiences, and thematic analysis was employed to identify and analyse significant themes related to the topic.

Accounts from BAME construction professionals reveal that the increased popularity of fourth-generation digital technologies, also known as Industry 4.0 technologies, does not necessarily result in increased usage. This is because many of these new technologies have not been embraced and are unpopular in certain circles. A more significant revelation is the impact of BAME community settings on determining the career pathways of most individuals, which often do not support the construction or digital technology pathways within the construction industry.

Research targeting ethnic minorities may not necessarily yield a large response due to the sensitivity of the issues raised. However, conducting a nationwide research with a larger sample size drawn from various locations in the UK could achieve more robust findings and uncover additional issues. Meanwhile, the results of this research can serve as a framework for more extensive investigations.

The research offers valuable recommendations to industry and academia regarding the need to address the specific challenges faced by the BAME community in terms of digital technology adoption. These issues are often overlooked in most discussions about digital technology.

The study provides critical recommendations that are relevant to Further and Higher Education (HE) institutions, industries, construction organisations, government bodies, etc. Recommendations include a call for collaboration between educational institutions, industry partners and local communities to facilitate awareness and orientation programmes within the community.

Drawing upon the authors’ experiences as minoritised academic scholars within leadership roles of a Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network in the United Kingdom (UK) academe, the authors explored the research question “In what ways do racially minoritised academics use coping techniques and strategies to counter racism and inequality in the higher education environment”.

The authors used a collective autoethnography approach accompanied by storytelling, underpinned by a qualitative interpretative process, supported by inductive, data-driven theorising. The authors’ approach is supplemented by the usage of content analysis (Schrieier, 2012) to analyse the data and generate findings.

The research findings specifically highlight (1) collectivism, solidarity and belonging, (2) knowledge expansion and critical consciousness, (3) disarming approaches and emotional labour, (4) resistance through setting boundaries and (5) intersectionality and BAME men allyship, as specific approaches for taking forward anti-racism.

Autoethnographic research has encountered challenges around verification, transparency and veracity of data, and issues have been debated due to its subjective nature (see Jones, 2010; Keeler, 2019; Méndez, 2013). Additional complications arise regarding neutrality and objectivity associated with the researchers' identities and experiences being represented in autoethnographic accounts. The authors acknowledge that the accounts provided are subjective, and have influenced the research process and product.

Research on the experiences of minoritised academics leading staff equality networks constitutes a research gap. This article offers an original analysis through outlining the authors’ lived experiences in leadership positions of a BAME Network and hope to other minoritised employees undertaking anti-racist work.

This study aims to investigate digital technology (DT) competencies, training and awareness amongst Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) construction students in the UK.

This study uses a quantitative online survey to investigate both BAME Construction Undergraduates Graduate Students (CUGS) and staff studying on and teaching on Construction programmes. The investigation examined their opinions as to their own awareness of their competencies and training regarding DT.

Findings indicate that BAME CUGS were mostly “very proficient” in the use of basic DT, such as required to complete an authentic assessment that typifies a real-life scenario. For example, sending and receiving emails, Excel, Word, computer literacy/basic IT skills, browsing searching materials, PowerPoint, specialist IT skills, mobile devices, tablet and social media handles. However, findings revealed that training awareness and competencies in new DT is shallow, and BAME CUGS are probably not ready for the digitalised construction world. Respondents were mainly within the “probably aware” range, and very few were within the “definitely aware” range, on the Likert scale adopted. New DTs that fell within the “definitely aware” range are BIM, offsite construction and manufacturing, 3D printing, cloud computing and collaboration.

It is acknowledged that expanding the sample size to other universities and exploring BAME industry professionals’ narratives could further enrich the discussion. However, these limitations did not impact the robust practical and theoretical implications provided to CUGS, Higher Education (HE)sectors, University staff and industry emerging from the analysis and findings achieved in the study. Still, it is being recommended for future work to consider.

The study provides valuable recommendations helpful to HE institutions, industry and government. Recommendations provided include a need to review and update the current curriculum, robust partnership between academia and industry, increase government funding, upskilling and training staff in the new DT.

This paper introduces a new approach to theorising and learning from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women’s experiences of inequality in academia. It offers a versatile model with which the structure of a particular racist-sexist inequality regime can be theorised from empirical evidence.

The paper presents composite, fictionalised accounts of intersectional discrimination which are then analysed through critical realist frameworks, employing critical race feminist theory insights. This novel “whisper network” method centres the knowledge of BAME women in academia, and is translatable to other marginalised actors, offering a more protective means by which to access their knowledge as a foundation for organisational change.

Through theorising the ontological arrangement of key causal mechanisms responsible for the reproduction of inequality regimes, the paper illuminates links between micro-level intersectional discrimination and meso-level institutional inequality.

In order to preserve anonymity and reduce potential backlash, the vignettes in this paper are not intended to precisely capture specific empirical realities, but instead reflect wider patterns from the author's own whisper network knowledge. Nonetheless, the analytical method developed here could be applied to rigorously collected empirical data, with clear implications for improving organisational practice.

The paper offers a structured and systematic process by which qualitative data on institutional inequality can be analysed and stakeholders engaged to develop and propose solutions, even by individuals new to the field.

A methodical basis for strategic action addressing the issues revealed through such an analysis can be developed in order to galvanise and steer organisational change.

The novelty of the paper is twofold: in its original synthesis of critical realist depth ontology and ontological insights from critical race feminist theory about social structures of oppression, and in the development of the innovative “whisper network” method based upon a critical race theory counter-storytelling epistemology, in conversation with the emergent stream of literature within feminist organisation studies regarding the importance of “writing differently”.

Inequality in the creative industries often serves as the starting point for public debates over culture in the UK. Academic literature has long recognised the precarious nature of the fashion industry. This chapter offers a critical review of the relationships of power existing in the support offered to ethnic minorities in disadvantaged communities in the fashion and creative sectors in the UK. In addressing these issues, a Foucauldian perspective is adopted. The chapter focuses on Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) fashion entrepreneurs’ challenges in promoting young designers from disadvantaged communities.

Our findings show that the BAME entrepreneurs are active agents who are essential in identifying and shaping new creative and talented young designers. The chapter contributes to the debate through a critical review of the relationships of power existing in the support offered to ethnic minorities in disadvantaged communities in the fashion and creative sectors in the UK.

This study aims to examine the extent to which external auditors (EAs) use the work of the internal audit function (IAF) based on the purpose of its primary activities. The authors rely on attribution theory, which suggests that individuals search for meaning when an event occurs. In this setting, the authors explore how the overall (assurance vs advisory) or specific (e.g. risk management and evaluating internal controls) focus of IAF activities influences perceived EA reliance on the IAF’s work.

The authors first explore the research question with data extracted from a broad, longitudinal survey conducted triennially by the national chapters of the Institute of Internal Auditors in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The data includes responses from 2014, 2017 and 2020 administrations of the survey. The authors conduct a parallel survey with practicing EAs attending two training sessions of a European office of a global network firm. Hypotheses were tested using ordered logistic regression.

Among the chief audit executive (CAE) participants, the authors observe that a balanced or primarily assurance-related purpose of the IAF, relative to a primarily advisory-related purpose, is associated with higher perceived EA reliance. The authors observe similar perceptions of the extent of reliance among the EA participants.

With a unique data set of practicing internal auditors from three countries, coupled with a sample of EAs, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine differences in EA reliance across the IAF’s primary roles. The study relies on data from three European countries, which differs from prior EA reliance literature with a largely North American focus. Further, comparison between perceptions of EAs and CAEs is a novel approach and this paper’s findings suggest that perceptions of CAEs could be a reliable proxy for EA-intended behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the dynamics of “identity leadership” with a quality improvement project undertaken by an International Medical Graduate (IMG) from Sri Lanka, on a two year Medical Training Initiative (MTI) placement in the National Health Service (NHS) [Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC), 2017]. A combined MTI rotation with an integrated Fellowship in Quality Improvement (Subedi et al., 2019) provided the driver to implement the HEART score (HS) in an NHS Emergency Department (ED) in the UK. The project was undertaken across ED, Acute Medicine and Cardiology at the hospital, with stakeholders emphasizing different and conflicting priorities to improve the pathway for chest pain patients.

A social identity approach to leadership provided a framework to understand the insider/outsider approach to leadership which helped RH to negotiate and navigate the conflicting priorities from each departments’ perspective. A staff survey tool was undertaken to identify reasons for the lack of implementation of a clinical protocol for chest pain patients, specifically with reference to the use of the HS. A consensus was reached to develop and implement the pathway for multi-disciplinary use of the HS and a quality improvement methodology (with the use of plan do study act (PDSA) cycles) was used over a period of nine months.

The results demonstrated significant improvements in the reduction (60%) of waiting time by chronic chest pain patients in the ED. The use of the HS as a stratified risk assessment tool resulted in a more efficient and safe way to manage patients. There are specific leadership challenges faced by an MTI doctor when they arrive in the NHS, as the MTI doctor is considered an outsider to the NHS, with reduced influence. Drawing upon the Social Identity Theory of Leadership, NHS Trusts can introduce inclusion strategies to enable greater alignment in social identity with doctors from overseas.

More than one third of doctors (40%) in the English NHS are IMGs and identify as black and minority ethnic (GMC, 2019a) a trend that sees no sign of abating as the NHS continues its international medical workforce recruitment strategy for its survival (NHS England, 2019; Beech et al., 2019). IMGs can provide significant value to improving the NHS using skills developed from their own health-care system. This paper recommends a need for reciprocal learning from low to medium income countries by UK doctors to encourage the development of an inclusive global medical social identity.

This quality improvement research combined with identity leadership provides new insights into how overseas doctors can successfully lead sustainable improvement across different departments within one hospital in the NHS.

This paper discusses how professionally qualified cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer (LGBQ) women youth workers present their self. The research examined how youth workers consciously or unconsciously shared their sexual identity with young people with whom they worked. Whilst this research focussed on youth workers, issues discussed are relevant for practitioners from a range of professional backgrounds such as therapists, social workers, teachers and health care practitioners. The research focused only on the experiences of cisgender LGBQ women as the experiences of men and trans women are different and so requires separate research.

This research taking a qualitative approach, used in-depth interviews to discuss how respondents shared information about their identity.

Some of fifteen youth workers interviewed reported not having choices about being out with the young people as their sexuality had been leaked. Others were able to pass and so choose when, or if, to be out with young people. Their different strategies to sharing information regarding their sexuality used by these participants reflected different approaches to being out.

Although there is evidence in the literature of how being out or closeted impacts on teachers there is little written about the effect on youth workers or other professionals. The little research that has been undertaken in this area focusses on the impact of identity on the clients rather than on the professionals. This article contributes to filling this gap in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the existing evidence around dementia services and interrogate the overarching UK policy development relating to service inclusion of black and minoritised groups. The paper will go on to identify the implications for the dementia wellness pathway and make recommendations regarding how services can be more inclusive.

This paper examines the policy/practice landscape around dementia care provision and observes if lessons can be learnt to improve health outcomes for people living with dementia from black and minoritised communities.

A review of dementia policy demonstrates how opportunities to improve the awareness, diagnosis and post-diagnostic support for minoritised communities are being missed. The outcomes of this mean that individuals are denied vital treatment and support, which could enhance quality of life and delay the progression of dementia.

The authors’ premise is that not meeting the dementia support needs of less-heard communities has negative financial as well as social and health-related outcomes and has wider resonance and implications for all stages of the dementia wellness pathway. Moreover, there is a legal responsibility for public services to provide culturally sensitive, responsive, appropriate and available care, to all people, without discrimination.

This paper offers a valuable review of policy and practice around dementia care in the UK and makes recommendations to improve health outcomes for people living with dementia from black and minoritised communities.

The UK Mental Health Act (MHA) Reform (2021) on race and ethnicity promotes new governmental strategies to tackle inequalities faced by ethnically racialised communities detained under the MHA. However, there is a scarcity in personality disorder and ethnicity research. This study aims to investigate what is available in the UK in relation to prevalence, aetiology and treatment provisions of personality disorder for ethnically diverse patients, and to understand their interconnectedness with mental health and criminal justice service provisions. Three key areas of investigations were reviewed, (1) UK prevalence of personality disorder amongst ethnically diverse individuals; (2) aetiology of personality disorder and ethnicity; (3) treatment provisions for ethnically diverse individuals diagnosed with personality disorder.

A scoping study review involved a comprehensive scanning of literature published between 2003 and 2022. Screening and data extraction tools were co-produced by an ethnically diverse research team, including people with lived experience of mental health and occupational expertise. Collaborative work was complete throughout the review, ensuring the research remained valid and reliable.

Ten papers were included. Results demonstrated an evident gap in the literature. Of these, nine papers discussed their prevalence, three papers informed on treatment provisions and only one made reference to aetiology. This review further supports the notion that personality disorder is under-represented within ethnic minority populations, particularly of African, Caribbean and British heritage, however, the reasons for this are multi-facetted and complex, hence, requiring further investigation. The evidence collected relating to treatment provisions of personality disorder was limited and of low quality to reach a clear conclusion on effective treatments for ethnically diverse patients.

The shortage of findings on prevalence, aetiology and treatment provisions, emphasises the need to prioritise further research in this area. Results provide valuable insights into this limited body of knowledge from a UK perspective.