Strength in Diversity

What we’ve learned about UHR’s membership

Over the past 18 months we’ve been gathering and reviewing information on protected characteristics that members* share with us when they join UHR. We’re here to give you a quick, informal tour of what we found, why it matters, and what we’re planning next to strengthen our understanding of the UHR community.

(* UHR members are taken in this context to be the individuals who participate in UHR activities – actual members are the HEPs that subscribe as institutions.)

Why are we collecting this data?

When members sign up to UHR, we ask a short set of optional questions about protected characteristics. This helps us understand who makes up our community - and just as importantly, who might be missing, or less represented, so we can make sure our work is as inclusive as possible.

The data we’ve worked with is summarised and anonymised (no UHR staff can see individual records) and for context we’ve compared it with publicly available HESA ‘non-academic’ data and the ONS Census 2021 dataset.

So what did we find?

We analysed the figures in Autumn 2025, and at that point almost half of our membership* had shared their data. Broadly speaking, most characteristics align well with national and sector trends, although there are differences in gender as the UHR membership is predominantly female, and amongst those who have disclosed religious beliefs, the profile also differs from the UK picture.

• Age & caring responsibilities: Our biggest working‑age group is 36–45, exactly the same as the broader HE professional services workforce. 43% of members reported having caring responsibilities.
• Disability & long‑term conditions: 10% of our members disclosed a disability, and 12% said they had an impairment or health condition that has a long‑term day‑to‑day impact.
• Ethnicity & nationality: 77% of members identified as White, and 10% are non‑UK nationals.
• Sexual orientation and Gender identity: 5% of members identified as gay or lesbian, 4% as bisexual, and 1% as queer. One percent of members said their gender did not match their sex assigned at birth.
• Gender representation in HR roles: 18% of members identified as male, with 79% identifying as female. We estimate that around 75% of senior HR leaders in the HE sector are women.
• Religion: Almost half (49%) of members reported no religion, with Christianity the largest single religion represented in our membership, at 34%.

What happens next?

Our next steps come under four broad themes - we’re hoping to:

Boost disclosure

We want to grow the dataset, so our understanding of our membership becomes richer and more accurate. To help with this, we’ve created the infographic above, and will be undertaking a series of activities during 2026 to increase disclosure.

Adding role & seniority into the picture

We’ll explore how characteristics intersect with job type and seniority – we already collect this information from members when they sign up for a UHR account, so we’ll be doing some work to ensure it’s as accurate as possible.

Showcasing the inclusive work we already do

We’ll highlight more of the behind‑the‑scenes work to ensure inclusivity across events, communications and accessibility. We’re really keen to hear from members about whether there’s more we can do to ensure we reach under-served communities.

Working with senior HR leaders

Our annual Senior HR Summit for HRDs and CPOs will include time to consider how UHR and senior leaders can boost participation and progression for under‑represented groups.

Continued cross‑sector collaboration

We’ll keep working with organisations like RIDE Higher and Jisc to strengthen EDI approaches across the sector.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on our plans. In the meantime, if you haven’t already let us know your details, you can update your UHR membership profile any time by logging in to your account.

Garima & Sophie, UHR Strategic Projects and Research Team, January 2026