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Exploring Minority Ethnic Doctors' Career Transitions In Medicine

A Life Course Approach

Birmingham Business School academics, working with Aston University, ran this ESRC-funded project. Its aim was to increase understanding of how minority ethnic doctors and aspirants progressed through the stages of a medical career, and how ethnicity is significant to that journey. This four-year project provided insight into the career barriers and enablers for minority ethnic doctors, and how to improve their retention in medicine.

Although minority ethnic doctors are well-represented in the medical profession, research indicated that they still faced barriers to their inclusion and their career progression which exacerbated doctor shortages.

This project provided an in-depth understanding of how minority ethnic doctors transitioned through the various stages of a medical career in the UK and how ethnicity, nationality, social class and gender were relevant to their career progression. This research deepened understanding of the drivers of doctor recruitment and retention, of ethnicity within the professions, and of the life-course approach to career research.

Working with Professor Dulini Fernando from Aston University, we examined the career transitions of early, mid and late career-stage doctors to deepen our understanding of the challenges faced, and the strategies adopted to address those challenges at different career points. We were able to reflect on whether changing narratives around ethnicity in society and the increasing importance placed on promoting diversity and inclusion had influenced the way in which different generations of doctors reflected on career barriers and the strategies for progression.

The project was funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC).

 Our research objectives were:

  1. To use a life-course approach to examine how minority ethnic doctors transitioned through each stage of a medical career, and explore how race and ethnicity were relevant to the barriers faced and the strategies employed at each stage.
  2. To increase understanding of how minority ethnic doctors achieved career success, and explore the barriers, enablers, inclusion, voice, exit and career strategies that were used.
  3. To understand the diversity of experiences and approaches of minority ethnic doctors and how experiences and strategies might differ for minority ethnic doctors from different ethnic groups, different nationalities, different social class backgrounds, and for male and female doctors.
  4. To learn lessons to support the career success of minority ethnic professionals from other fields.

Update on project activities

Work Package 1

Literature reviews

We conducted two semi-systematic reviews of the academic literature to identify what was known about:

a) the research on race and ethnicity at work in the UK since 1990

b) the importance of race and ethnicity to how ethnic minority doctors experienced a career in medicine

Longitudinal analysis of UKMED data

We conducted a longitudinal analysis of data from the UK Medical Education Database (UKMED) to analyse differences in choice of medical specialty and career progression between ethnic minority doctors and doctors from other ethnic groups. This analysis advanced understanding of the role of ethnicity, gender, and social class in shaping choice of medical specialty and career progression in medicine.

Work Package 2

Focus groups with minority ethnic Year 13 students

We conducted 12 focus groups with minority ethnic Year 13 students to understand their perceptions of a career in medicine, motivations for choosing medicine or other science-related careers, influences on their career-related decision-making, and career plans.

National survey of medical school students

We conducted a national survey of medical school students from all ethnic groups to understand how medical students from different backgrounds were similar or different in terms of their perceptions of career opportunities and challenges.

Work Package 3

Interviews with doctors

We interviewed minority ethnic doctors working in the UK about how they progressed their medical careers in the UK. The interviews aimed to explore how minority ethnic doctors transitioned through the different stages of a medical career in the UK and how ethnicity, nationality, religion, social class and gender impacted on their workplace experiences and career progression.

Work Package 4

Impact and Engagement

We are working with local schools and other stakeholders to develop a toolkit that can be used to support young people with their applications to medical school.

For this work, we brought in expertise from Essie Kaur, a PhD researcher with the University's Health Services Management Centre.

Research team

  • Professor Etlyn Kenny

    Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour

    Etlyn's research interests are in the field of employee diversity and organisational careers.

  • Professor Joanne Duberley

    Professor of Organisation Studies

    Jo's research explores how gender, ethnicity, social class and age shape careers across academia, defence and professional services.

  • Dr Christian Darko

    Associate Professor in Labour and Development Economics

    Christian's research is located around issues related to employment outcomes, educational mismatch, health and wellbeing in developing countries, and firm productivity.

  • Dr. Ashok Patnaik

    Research Fellow

    Ashok's research interests centre around sociological research into health and healthcare.

Project publications

Conferences

Kenny, E.J., Duberley, J., Patnaik, A., Fernando, D., & Darko, C. (2026) Ethnicity and career capital for minority ethnic medics. British Academy of Management Conference, London, September 2026

Kenny, E. J., Fernando, D., Duberley, J., Patnaik, A., & Darko, C. (2026) Understanding workplace inclusion in an ethnically diverse profession – Experiences of minority ethnic doctors working in the UK Health Service. International Congress on Applied Psychology Conference, Florence, Italy, July 2026

Fernando, D., Patnaik, A., Kenny, E. J., Duberley, J.,& Darko, C. (2025) Maintaining a career amid selective incivility: A study of migrant medical professionals. British Sociological Association Work, Employment and Society Conference, Manchester, September 2025

Kenny, E. J., Duberley, J., Fernando, D., Patnaik, A., & Darko, C (2025) Inclusion and Belonging in a Diverse Profession: Minority Ethnic Doctors in the UK. Equal Diversity and Inclusion International Conference, Athens, July 2025

Patnaik, A., Kenny, E. J., Darko, C., Duberley, J. & Fernando, D. (2025) Shaping career choice: South Asian family habitus and medicine. British Sociology Association Annual Conference, Manchester, April 2025

Darko, C., Egyei, R., Kenny, E.J., Patnaik, A., Duberley, J. & Fernando, D. (2024) How far can you go? Ethnic minority doctors’ choice of specialty in medicine. British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Conference, September 2024

Patnaik, A., Kenny, E. J., Darko, C., Duberley, J. & Fernando, D. (2024) Choosing to study medicine: How do 6th formers make that choice. British Sociological Society Medical Sociology Conference. Warwick, September 2024

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