1/9) @UKRI states - we "know that racism takes many forms – including far more subtle forms that keep Black people out of the room and silence their voices. There is also the racism that sees people stereotyped because of the colour of their skin or denied a job"

2/9) However, I am becoming increasingly tired of the persistent and systemic discrimination which affects who is awarded research funding by the @UKRI. I'm tired of Black academics being silenced by this blatant inequality. For example ...

3/9) It appears that £0 of @UKRI £4.3 million pounds of research funding to explain and mitigate the disproportionate #COVID19 risk among people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, has gone to Black academics / researchers.

4/9) I am not criticising the awardees or their applications. But it is exhausting that Black academics are consistently and persistently ignored, overlooked and undervalued by @UKRI(Especially Black women). Black academics do exist - they are out there with expertise and PhD's.

5/9) Please don't fall into the lazy and discriminatory excuse that funding is never awarded to Black academics because we are not present, capable or competent enough to undertake research.

6/9) @UKRI states - "Everyone deserves opportunity and a future, and that cannot happen in a world in which anti-blackness remains". This persistent lack of diversity in the allocation of research funding is unacceptable. I do not believe your hollow statements of solidarity.

7/9) Even on the subject of race and inequality Black researchers rarely have the opportunity to lead research on the issues that affect their communities. If this happened once or twice, maybe you could argue that it was just due to the quality of applicants. This is persistent!

8/9) How diverse was the selection panel? was funding discrimination considered? What are you doing to address this? Research affects knowledge, knowledge affects policy & policy directly affects our lives. We must have equality in design, implementation & analysis of research

9/9) @UKRI states "we know that racism takes many forms – including far more subtle forms that keep Black people out of the room and silence their voices" writing this tweet to a powerful funder is a huge career risk. But this can't go on. Enough!