Prof Monder Ram Takes on Government Advisory Role on Equality

From the press release:

Professor Monder Ram OBE, Professor of Small Business and Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at De Montfort University in Leicester, has been chosen to sit on a new government advisory group to shape best practice for equality and diversity.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has established the Equalities Advisory Group (EAG) to act as an advisory body to the BIS Equality and Diversity Governance Board, responsible for advising and challenging approaches to progressing equality and diversity to support BIS’ strategic priorities and help deliver key outcomes identified.

The EAG consists of invited representatives from key organisations from across the BIS family that reflect its agenda as a whole, as well as key national equality organisations such as DMU’s CREME, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Black Training and Enterprise Group, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Led by Professor Monder Ram, CREME, based within the Leicester Business School of De Montfort University, works collaboratively with policy-makers and practitioners to support ethnic minority businesses, combining outstanding community engagement with a strong commitment to academic rigour.

Professor Ram also has extensive experience of working in, researching and acting as a consultant to ethnic minority businesses. He is a leading authority on ethnic minority entrepreneurship research and has published widely on the subject. His work has been supported by grants from a full range of research funding bodies; including research councils, government departments, regional and local agencies and the private sector.

Commenting on his appointment to the EAG, Professor Ram said: “This is an excellent opportunity to work with a key government department to ensure that diversity features in all its key operations. I'm particularly interested in pursuing this issue in relation to enterprise.”

Professor Ram was responsible for initiating the annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference in 1998, which has developed into the most important event in the calendar for disseminating policy and research on ethnic minority firms. He also holds the positions of Visiting Fellow at the Industrial Relations Research Unit at Warwick University, and the Herbert Felix Visiting Professor at Lund University in Sweden.

Monder served in the former Department of Trade and Industry’s Ethnic Minority Business Forum and Small Business Council. He was also named as one of the country’s most influential Asians by the Institute of Asian Professionals and was awarded an OBE in the 2004 New Year Honours List for his services to black and ethnic minority businesses.