British female scientists working to cure the world’s most infectious diseases receive far less funding than their male peers, according to research.
Almost three quarters of grants for work on infectious disease were awarded to men, while women received smaller individual grants, on average. The discrepancies decreased over the decade-long study, but the authors said questions remained about the extent to which universities were making progress in addressing the gender imbalance.
It is possible that the discrepancy reflects the make-up of research departments where there are more men than women. Michael Head, of University College London, who led the research, said: “This study raises more questions than it answers, perhaps.”
The findings were based on an analysis of funding awards for all infectious disease research