Our main project output, a Toolkit for Fair Doctoral Admissions For Ethnically and Racially Minoritised Applicants is now live.

About the project

Close the Gap is a joint project between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 

The project aims to transform doctoral student selection, to develop a socially and epistemically just and inclusive environment for world-leading research. 

The project specifically develops and tests new discipline-specific fair selection processes that ensure equity for racially minoritized doctoral applicants from the UK in the two partner universities.

The need for change

Black British, British Bangladeshi, and British Pakistani students are widely underrepresented in postgraduate research (PGR) in the UK overall, and in all major discipline groups at doctoral level in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Both Universities have introduced new initiatives in recent years to try to improve doctoral application rates amongst historically marginalised students. However, variations persist in the likelihood of receiving an offer of a place to study, and on average, a Black British, British Bangladeshi, or British Pakistani candidate has been only around half as likely as a White candidate to receive an offer for doctoral study at either University. We need to understand the reasons and barriers that lead to this difference in success rates, transform the systems and cultures that shape this, and co-develop a range of new, fair postgraduate admissions processes and tools to close this offer rate gap.

What we are aiming to do

With this project we:

• Define and develop doctoral candidate-selection processes and practices that reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the Offer Gap for UK-domiciled applicants from underrepresented ethnic groups, tailored to the specific circumstances of the different academic disciplines.
• Embed a permanent shift away from deficit-driven admissions structures, cultures, and practices to benefits-based models of assessing academic potential.
• Improve the effectiveness of wider interventions aimed at improving admissions, experiences, and outcomes of marginalised students across the whole academic pipeline.
• Develop a long-term collaborative link between Oxford and Cambridge to embed transparency and justice in doctoral admissions through continued innovation beyond the funded project.
• Contribute robustly evidenced methodologies for wide organisational change in doctoral admissions, cultures, and practices across the sector.

Who we work with, and how

We have been working with sixteen departments and doctoral training partnerships in Cambridge and Oxford, to co-develop admissions initiatives, test them within specific contexts, refine them, and embedd them within organisational cultures. 

We also work with a variety of external organisations. Our principal partners and collaborators, including Blueprint for All, The Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) and Rare, are innovators in their respective fields and are bringing essential fresh perspectives, expertise, and experience.

The Close the Gap team at Cambridge

The Close the Gap Cambridge team is made up of:

• Sara Baker, Professor of Developmental Psychology and Education at the Faculty of Education
• Kerri Gardiner, Head of the Postgraduate Research Office at the University of Cambridge. 
• Nuala Murray, Postgraduate Widening Participation Manager, in the Cambridge Admissions Office. 
• Cherry Benson, Postgraduate Widening Participation Project Coordinator. 
• Sonia Ilie, Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education

Project outputs

The main project output is a Toolkit for Fair Doctoral Admissions For Ethnically and Racially Minoritised Applicants. The Toolkit offers an overarching, collaborative approach to reviewing and reforming doctoral admissions to promote fairer practices for ethnically and racially minoritised groups.

The toolkit was championed at its launch in October 2025 by the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, Professor Deborah Prentice, and the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, Professor Irene Tracey, who provided the opening addresses and contextualised the project's significance.

Toolkit Structure

The Toolkit is structured around three components:

Understanding the Issue – identifying where disparities exist and potential underlying causes of inequalities.
Developing and Implementing Solutions – co-developing tailored admissions initiatives based on insights from analysis.
Evaluating and Sustaining Change – refining initiatives and embedding long-term improvements within institutional practice.

The Toolkit also includes nine detailed resource packs for specific, tested initiatives, covering topics such as:

• Communications with prospective supervisors
• Competency-based admissions
• Contextual data usage
• Race-equitable interview practices

Using the Toolkit
Designed for those shaping PhD admissions policy and strategy within UK higher education, the Toolkit combines a clear review of the factors driving inequities with practical tools to address them. Institutions can work through the whole Toolkit or use specific sections and resource packs to tackle particular challenges, supporting fairer and more inclusive admissions.