A curated exhibition of career stories will challenge who gets to call themselves an environmental scientist. The field remains stubbornly unrepresentative of the UK population, particularly across ethnicity, gender, and career background. One overlooked barrier is that students and professionals from underrepresented groups cannot see a version of themselves in the existing workforce. TIMELY addresses this by collecting and displaying the non-linear career paths of role models from underrepresented groups—people who entered environmental science from other disciplines or via unconventional routes. If the project succeeds, it will produce a practical toolkit that any university or employer can use to curate similar career-story exhibitions. The immediate pilot at the University of Warwick, co-developed with Coventry City Council and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, will test whether seeing these stories in person and online changes who applies for environmental science courses and jobs. The framework is designed to scale nationally through NERC’s Opening up the Environment 2026 programme, potentially shifting recruitment and retention patterns across the entire UK environmental science workforce.
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The TIMELY project aims to inspire and support underrepresented students, researchers, and professionals to pursue careers in environmental science. Despite ongoing efforts to promote diversity, the field remains underrepresented across ethnic, gender, and career backgrounds. A key but under-addressed barrier is the lack of accessible, relatable, and inspiring career narratives, which limits individuals’ ability to envision a future in the field. TIMELY responds to this challenge by curating and showcasing diverse career journeys using art-based methods such as curated exhibitions, creative storytelling, and visual elicitation. The project will identify role models from underrepresented groups, with non-linear career paths, and transitioning from other disciplines. Their stories will feature pivotal moments, opportunities, and achievements. These will be brought to life in the exhibition This is My Environmental Journey, presented both in person at the University of Warwick and online to ensure broad accessibility. The University of Warwick provides an ideal setting to pilot this initiative due to its vibrant interdisciplinary environmental science community, institutional commitment to inclusive research culture, and strong tradition of art-science collaboration and engagement. The project has been co-developed with three key local partners: Coventry City Council, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, and the National Mathematics and Science College. These organisations represent local government, exhibition spaces, and pre-university education, which are sectors essential to exploring opportunities for scaling up the project’s activities and impact for Opening up the Environment 2026 and beyond. The project comprises four core components aligned with its objectives: (1) Evaluation: This component includes two strands: (i) mapping and assessing Warwick’s existing diversity and inclusion practices in environmental science, and (ii) evaluating the effectiveness and impact of TIMELY’s activities. A co-developed Theory of Change and the NERC self-assessment tool will guide both strands, ensuring that insights inform institutional improvement and future planning. (2) Framework: Informed by evaluation findings, TIMELY will co-create a scalable, transferable framework for curating career journeys. Collaborative workshops with researchers, professionals, partners, artists, and people with lived experience will define criteria for selecting role models, structuring narratives, and applying creative storytelling techniques. The framework will be developed as a practical toolkit for future application across audiences and contexts, offering lasting value to enhancing diversity and inclusion in environmental science. (3) Exhibitions: A multi-format exhibition will showcase diverse environmental career stories through multimedia storytelling, personal narratives, and visualisations. It will be hosted at the Warwick Arts Centre and supported by an online platform to reach wider audiences. These exhibitions aim to challenge stereotypes, expand career imagination, and inspire greater inclusion in environmental science. (4) Partnerships: The project will build on existing collaborations and form new partnerships with academic institutions, exhibition networks, and training providers. These relationships will support knowledge exchange, extend the framework’s reach, and prepare for a follow-on proposal to Opening up the Environment 2026, enabling national scaling and long-term sustainability. This project represents a timely effort to address persistent barriers to diversity and inclusion in environmental science through creative, collaborative, and evidence-based approaches. It will further engage a broad range of stakeholders and audiences, build inclusive practices, and develop a platform for long-term change, which is aligned with institutional, regional, and national goals for improving diversity, inclusion, and interdisciplinarity in environmental science, as outlined in NERC’s strategic plans.
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