最新英国皇家天文学会调查显示，女性和少数族裔在天文学和地质物理学领域仍严重不足，且该领域正变得越来越白人化。调查显示，尽管从事天文学和太阳系科学的人数比以往任何时候都多，但地质物理学界自2016年以来已经缩小。然而，永久性天文和地质物理学工作人员中，97%的英国受访者是白人，自2016年的95%有所上升。研究生构成类似，92%的英国学生——占研究生受访者的70%——表示他们是白人，自2016年的87%有所上升。调查还发现，自2010年以来，天文学和太阳系科学中教授、高级讲师或读者的女性比例有所增加，但在天文学中自2016年以来停滞不前，在“固体地球”地质物理学中下降到19%。在更低的职级水平上，女性占天文和太阳系科学博士后职位的28%，占固体地球地质物理学博士后职位的34%。

👩‍🔬女性和少数族裔在天文学和地质物理学领域仍然严重不足，与以往几十年改善代表性的举措形成对比。

📊永久性工作人员中，97%的英国受访者是白人，研究生中92%的英国学生（占70%）表示他们是白人，显示出白人化的趋势。

📉尽管自2010年以来，天文学和太阳系科学中教授职位的女性比例有所增加，但在讲师级别自2016年以来停滞不前，在固体地球地质物理学中下降到19%。

Women and ethnic-minority groups are still significantly underrepresented in UK astronomy and geophysics, with the fields becoming more white. That is according to the latest demographic survey conducted by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), which concludes that decades of initiatives to improve representation have “failed”.

Based on data collected in 2023, the survey reveals more people working in astronomy and solar-system science than ever before, although the geophysics community has shrunk since 2016. According to university admissions data acquired by the RAS, about 80% of students who started undergraduate astronomy and geophysics courses in 2022 were white, slightly less than the 83% overall proportion of white people in the UK.

However, among permanent astronomy and geophysics staff, 97% of British respondents to the RAS survey are white, up form 95% in 2016. The makeup of postgraduate students was similar, with 92% of British students – who accounted for 70% of postgraduate respondents – stating they are white, up from 87% in 2016.

The survey also finds that the proportion of women in professor, senior lecturer or reader roles increased from 2010 to 2023 in astronomy and solar-system science, but has stagnated at lecturer level in astronomy since 2016 and dropped in “solid Earth” geophysics to 19%. The picture is better at more junior levels, with women making up 28% of postdocs in astronomy and solar-system science and 34% in solid Earth geophysics.

A redouble of efforts

“I very much want to see far more women and people from minority ethnic groups working as astronomers and geophysicists, and we have to redouble our efforts to make that happen,” says Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the RAS, who co-authored the survey and presented its results at the National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham last week.

RAS president Mike Lockwood agrees, stating that effective policies and strategies are now  needed. “One only has to look at the history of science and mathematics to understand that talent can, has, and does come from absolutely anywhere in society, and our concern is that astronomy and geophysics in the UK is missing out on some of the best natural talent available to us,” Lockwood adds.

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