Despite laws in Britain permitting limited positive action initiatives to combat disadvantage faced by minority groups in employment since the mid-1970s, the subject has notoriously been a neglected and highly controversial area in the UK. Notwithstanding the potential provided by sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act 2010, it still appears that organisations prefer to steer clear of this opportunity to address disadvantage suffered by protected groups. Whilst there is a body of work considering the theoretical importance of positive action in the UK, there is a lack of empirical exploration of the practical implications of these provisions. This paper will provide a brief overview of the theoretical context and current positive action legislative provisions within the UK. In light of this context, the early findings of a small-scale qualitative study carried out by the authors will be discussed looking at the experiences of a purposive sample of public and private employers in relation to the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Early research findings suggest that whilst there was a clear willingness and openness by employers to use of outreach measures in order to redress disadvantage, there was evident wariness regarding a move towards preferential treatment as expounded by section 159. Whilst respondents appeared to appreciate the business case for and utility of the positive action measures under section 158, there was far less enthusiasm for more direct preferential treatment, with many respondents raising serious concerns regarding this. These concerns often reflected a highly sensitive risk-based approach towards any action that could expose their organisation to the possibility of "reverse discrimination".

In spite of a number of drivers for change in the pursuit of gender equality in higher education in the UK and beyond, the gender gap in research activity is still widely recognised across most subject disciplines. Over recent years, mentoring strategies have often been seen as the Alexandrian sword capable of cutting the gender deficit 'Gordian Knot'. However, analysis of current practice and dialogue points to a lack of a consistent approach in addressing and implementing HE policy in this area with many initiatives providing standardised nonevidenced based provision aimed at addressing an alleged confidence deficit and exhausting an already fatigued group of successful senior women. This paper seeks to triangulate existing literature with an analysis of data collected from a funded UK based research project ultimately proposing a five-step institutional mentoring approach aimed at providing some inroads into alleviating the gender deficit in research productivity in the academy.

This paper presents the findings of a research study exploring the experiences of black, minority, ethnic ('BME') students within a small English University (the 'university'). The recognised need for research in this area is particularly compelling in relation to the experience of ethnic minority undergraduates on a campus with a low proportion of BME staff and students such as the research site. It is anticipated that the findings of this research will add to the emerging body of national and international work in this area and assist in understanding the BME experience within the research institution and other UK higher education institutes (HEIs), and also universities and colleges in the wider European context. In particular, it will provide a firm evidential base for the development of institutional policy and strategy in this important area, with a particular focus on the learning experience and progression of BME students. In addition to various external calls for further research in this area, the necessity for institutional research into the BME student experience is reinforced by the basic statutory requirements in the UK imposed by the public sector equality duty and pursuant to the Equality Act 2010.

The last twenty years have seen an increased emphasis around the world on the quality and quantity of research in response to national research assessments, international league tables, and changes in government funding. The prevailing attitude in higher education embeds research as the 'gold standard' in the context of academic activity. However, a key feature of this trend is significant gender differences in research activity. We argue that research productivity is related to identification as a researcher, and that identifying as 'researchactive' or not would appear to depend upon how an individual academic subjectively defines 'research'. This article brings together two hitherto separate bodies of work 1) the impact of gender on academic research careers, and 2) academic conceptions of research. Through a combination of interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, we investigate the extent to which interpretations of 'research' and 'research activity' differ by gender within an institution in the UK and the potential impact of these interpretations. Although the research found that there are many similarities in the interpretations of 'research activity' between genders, we found one important difference between male and female participants' conceptions of research and its relationship to teaching. Significantly, our findings suggest that there is a need to expand our existing conceptualisations of 'research' to include 'research as scholarship' in order to address the obstacles that current understanding of 'research' have placed on some academics. Self-definition as a researcher underlies research activity. A narrow conception of 'research' may prevent individuals from identifying as 'research-active' and therefore engaging with research.

'The Equality Act 2010: five years on' conference was organized as a collaboration between the Forum for Research into Equality and Diversity (University of Chester) and the School of Law and Social Justice (University of Liverpool). The Equality Act 2010 has arguably been one of the most important and challenging pieces of legislation introduced in the last decade in the United Kingdom. As such, it was felt that the 5-year anniversary of its implementation provided an excellent opportunity to bring together those researching and practising in this area of law. In particular, the conference was intended to provide the opportunity for a review of the implications and impact of the legislation during this period, but also to consider the way in which it can continue to promote equality and protect against discrimination into the 21st century.As organizers, we were keen to focus the themes of the conference around the broad range of socio-legal study taking place across the United Kingdom in relation to the Equality Act 2010. While many conferences have focussed on the implications of the legislation for practitioners and wider exploration of equality across a variety of sectors, it was felt that there were few academic gatherings permitting researchers to explore the impact of the Equality Act from a socio-legal perspective. Contributors were invited to submit papers and poster presentations across a range of themes around the legislation including, but not limited to, the public sector equality duty, intersectionality, positive action, strategic enforcement, hierarchy of protected characteristics, education, etc.The quality and range of papers and posters submitted and presented at the conference exceeded expectations. As had been hoped, the variety of socio-legal study being carried