Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS)
Documenting the lives of ethnic and religious minorities in a time of crisis.
About the survey
This major new survey will help us understand the realities facing ethnic and religious minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the first and largest of its kind in Britain and it has the potential to inspire change in society - not just during pandemic-era Britain, but beyond.
Ethnic and religious minorities are under-represented in other surveys in the UK. This means that when survey data are used as evidence for policy change, their voices and experiences are marginalised and, sometimes, misrepresented.
EVENS is different. We have designed an innovative approach to recruiting participants to make sure that we are including people from a wide range of religious and ethnic minority groups, from all across Britain. More about how we designed the survey.
We will collect data on how the pandemic is affecting minority groups in England, Scotland and Wales, asking questions about education, employment and economic wellbeing, housing and your neighbourhood, social and political participation, health, ethnic and religious identity, and experiences of racism and discrimination.
- Watch the recording of the EVENS virtual launch event on 16 February 2021.
Take part
To take part in EVENS, you need to be aged 18 or over and identify as from an ethnic or religious minority group. If you are eligible, you will be sent a link to fill in the survey, or you can take part over the phone.
If you complete the survey in full, you will receive a gift voucher.
If you are not eligible to take part in the survey you can still support this important project by sharing this information with your friends and family. You can follow us on social media:
Data collection will take place from February to May 2021. Results from the research will be available here in late 2021.
Research team
Our expert team is made up of social scientists and statisticians. Together we have several decades of experience conducting research on ethnicity and religion, engaging in public debate and informing and influencing policy.
- Nissa Finney (project leader), University of St. Andrews
- James Nazroo, University of Manchester
- Laia Bécares, University of Sussex
- Neema Begum, University of Manchester
- Dan Ellingworth, University of Manchester
- Dharmi Kapadia, University of Manchester
- Natalie Shlomo, University of Manchester
- Harry Taylor, University of Manchester
Our partners
We are working closely with our voluntary and community partners:
- Black & Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS)
- Business in the Community
- Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST)
- Friends, Families and Travellers
- Migrant Rights Network
- Muslim Council of Britain
- NHS Race and Health Observatory
- Operation Black Vote (OBV)
- Race Equality Foundation
- The Runnymede Trust
- Stuart Hall Foundation
- The Ubele Initiative
In the news
Our team have been writing why we believe EVENS is so important, and how we will use new social science techniques to collect data in a way that addresses inequalities in existing survey data.
- Represented yet excluded: How ethnic minority people are counted in national surveys - Data Impact Blog by Dharmi Kapadia
- EVENS: survey documenting the lives of ethnic and religious minority people during Covid-19 - news article on the National Centre for Research Methods website.