De Montfort University is a global academic hub chair and as such publishes a progress report on both the individual United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as a comprehensive report on all the goals.
Our 2025 report will show what the university has been doing in terms of research, teaching, partnerships and engagement in helping to meet those targets and raising awareness of the progress towards the 2030 aims.
This is the progress report for SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities. The full report on all the SDGs can be viewed here.
UN PROGRESS REPORT ON SDG 10 in 2025
THERE has been no progress on more than 50% of the targets set for 2030 back in 2015. A total of 30% of the target set have shown regression and a further 20% stagnation.
Only 10% of targets are set to be met, 10% have shown moderate progress but a further 30% only marginal progress.
The UN’s progress report for 2025 states: “Since 2015, most countries have seen income and consumption growth for the bottom 40% of their population outpace the national average, though disparities persist among regions and countries at different income levels.
“The labour income share of GDP fails to show progress, contributing to rising inequality.
“Reports of discrimination are rising globally, with higher prevalence among urban residents, women, persons with disabilities, the poorest and those with lower education levels.”
MAJOR DMU NEWS ON SDG 10 IN 2025
Helping people make sense of the digital present
A DE MONTFORT University researcher is turning to the past to help older people make sense of the digital present.
Dr Josie Barnard has been leading creative workshops that use historical medical objects to help older adults feel more confident using digital health tools such as the NHS app. By placing familiar items from decades past next to today’s technology, Josie is helping people make connections — and build digital confidence in the process.
DMU's business school nominated as country's best
INNOVATIVE efforts to make studying as inclusive as possible for students all over the world have helped Leicester Castle Business School to a national award nomination.
The business school, based at DMU, has been recognised for its work with a nod in the Business School of the Year category at the PIEoneer Awards, run by international education network PIE.
In its entry, the LCBS team highlighted the introduction of new ideas making the studying experience more welcoming and inclusive for international students.
3D Printing medical dressings could help isolated communities
SCIENTISTS are combining nanotechnology and 3D printing with natural plant compounds to create better bandages that will treat burns and wounds more effectively.
Dr Sara Cordeiro, senior lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), will work alongside Dr Henrique Rodrigues Marcelino at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil, on the project which has secured funding from the prestigious Royal Society fund.
Over the next three years they will collaborate on creating a dressing made using a special molecule, C-phyocyanin, extracted from Amazonian algae which has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and wound healing properties.
New Companion of DMU Gus John calls on graduates to face up to social injustice
A LIFELONG social justice campaigner who has received the highest academic accolade available at DMU is calling on its graduates to help break down barriers that divide us as humans.
Professor Gus John, who has championed racial equality, particularly in education, was speaking after being named a Companion of DMU at a graduation ceremony.
His lengthy fight against systemic racism, which spans more than 60 years, has seen Professor John consult on policies and work on influential academic reports and literature.
New report highlights barriers facing Asian business owners in UK
GROUND-BREAKING new research from DMU and Barclays Eagle Labs reveals the vital contribution Asian founders make to the UK economy - and the systemic barriers that continue to hold them back.
The study, based on 125 interviews with Asian entrepreneurs, business leaders, and support organisations across England and Wales, shows that Asian-owned businesses contribute an estimated £25 billion to the UK economy and make up over 6% of all SMEs.
However, the research highlights significant barriers to growth, including cultural attitudes to debt and risk, stereotyping in investment and banking, and limited access to elite business networks.
DMU academic bridging the research gap between the Global North and South
DMU’s Internationally renowned cultural policy academic Dr Steven Hadley, Policy Lead for the Institute of Global Challenges and Cultures, has co-programmed a global summit of academics to explore how to address the inequalities in research between the Global North and the Global South.
The Cultural Trends Global Dialogue conference in Peru, aims to foster the development of research networks and academic cooperation between the Global South and the Global North.
DMU embraces Leicester's diverse culture as part of Being Human festival programme
DMU will be celebrating the city’s rich cultural heritage through the power of creative writing, comic book art and the feeling of belonging as part of this year’s Being Human Festival.
The Being Human Festival supports researchers within the Humanities to produce events for public audiences that emphasise working with local communities to share ideas for mutual benefit.
DMU is one of five universities across the UK to be chosen as a Festival Hub for 2025. Each hub curates its own series of events centred around a specific societal theme, to which DMU has chosen Leicester: Community, Culture and Super-Diversity.
DMU teams with Digital Poverty Alliance to launch free laptop initiative
DMU has partnered with the Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) to ensure its students have the technology to get online and flourish during their studies.
One in seven adults in the UK, and one in five children, are in digital poverty and don’t have access to a laptop, computer or smartphone, or have little to no reliable access to an internet connection.
To help combat this, DMU has joined the DPA’s national Tech4Youth programme and will provide up to 50 students who have little to no access to digital tools with a free refurbished laptop to help them complete their studies.
MAJOR DMU RESEARCH ON SDG 10 IN 2025
Recognizing Geographical Locations using a GAN-Based Text-To-Image Approach
Ibrahim, Dina M.: Al-Shargabi, Amal A. (2025)
GENERATING photo-realistic images that align with the text descriptions is the goal of the text-to-image generation (T2I) model. They can assist in visualizing the descriptions thanks to advancements in Machine Learning Algorithms.
Using text as a source, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can generate a series of pictures that serve as descriptions. Recent GANs have allowed oldest T2I models to achieve remarkable gains. However, they have some limitations.
The main target of this study is to address these limitations to enhance the text-to-image generation models to enhance location services.
https://doi.org/10.11591/ijeecs.v37.i2.pp1168-1182
How to Improve Uptake and Access to Breast Cancer Screening for Minority Ethnic Women in Leicester
Aslam, Haleema (2025)
THE existing research in the UK indicates minority ethnic women are less likely than their White British counterparts to access the National Health Service Breast Cancer Screening Programme, (NHSBSP), and specific minority ethnic groups are more likely to experience the most aggressive forms of breast cancer with the poorest chances of survival.
Despite, the absence of uptake data by ethnicity, certain factors prevalent in Leicester such as lower general uptake of the NHSBSP than in similar areas, one of the highest minority ethnic populations in the UK, and high levels of deprivation indicate uptake level of the NHSBSP for minority ethnic women will be low.
Therefore, solutions to improving uptake should be developed from the perspectives of minority ethnic women.
How to Improve Uptake and Access to Breast Cancer Screening for Minority Ethnic Women in Leicester.
Current Issues: Is the workplace about to get better or worse for disabled people in the United Kingdom?
Berghs, M. and Wilkinson, M. (2025)
IN THE United Kingdom, the new labour government has recently unveiled two new bills, the Employment Rights Bill and Equality Race and Disability Bill, that seem to strengthen the 2010 Equality Act.
However, it is not clear how these bills will address the disability employment gap.
The government’s policy to Make Work Pay has many good points like more transparency in terms of race, gender and disability pay gaps but it also raises questions about what devolvement to local authorities to get more disabled and chronically ill people into work will look like?
https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2479094
Women's Broadcasting Histories and the Archive: National, Transnational and Transmedial Entanglements
Arnold, S., McCabe, J., Andrews, K., Badenoch, A., Baker, J., Ball, V., Hendriks, E., Jackson, V., Murphy, K., Sahu, I., Skoog, K., Terkanian, K and Warner, H. (2025)
THIS provocation details varied perspectives of the International Women’s Broadcasting Histories (IWBH) network on researching the role of women in broadcasting.
The conversational form allows us to roam across the topic widely, to express a range of discrete positions and distinct arguments, with the desire to bring dilemmas to the surface and explore their implications without reduction.
Responding with a series of interventionist statements around the issues and challenges of doing archival research into women’s work, we opt for retaining different viewpoints in a raw state, with the aim of provoking discussion about the methodological opportunities and limitations when working within and outside of archives.
https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251330853
Exploring economic inequality with critical qualitative approaches in psychology
Carr, P., Goodman, S., Jowett, A., Abell, J., and Demasi, M. (2025)
THIS editorial introduces our special issue showcasing how qualitative research methods can be used in psychological research to explore economic inequality.
Economic and class-based inequalities are global problems that have a negative impact on people’s well-being.
The papers within the special issue demonstrate how differing methodological approaches such as discursive psychology, thematic analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis can be utilised to offer insights into the complexity of economic inequality as a social justice issue.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2025.2601440
Exploring how entertainment documentaries construct London to account for the residence of the international super-rich in the “hostile environment” for migrants
Carr, P., Goodman, S., Jowett, A., and Abell, J. (2025)
UNLIKE poorer migrant groups, governments offer visa inducements to attract wealthy individuals into a country.
However, super-rich migrants’ impact on the UK has been shown to be negative. This research explored how entertainment documentaries account for super-rich individuals residing in London.
Discursive Social Psychology was used to analyse 2490 min of programmes from non-subscription UK terrestrial channels broadcast throughout 2016 in the UK using the term ‘super-rich’.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2025.2525856
A molecular perspective on horticultural trade: lessons from India for international species authentication
Saxena, A., Nazar, N., Slater, A., Sgamma, T., and Sundaresan, V. (2025)
THE global horticultural industry faces increasing challenges related to species authentication, regulatory compliance, and trade transparency.
Misidentification of plant species can result in economic losses, compromised consumer safety, and breaches of the regulatory framework.
Traditional authentication methods, including morphological and chemical analyses, often lack the accuracy and reproducibility required for reliable identification.
This review evaluates the potential of DNA barcoding as a robust molecular tool for species authentication in the horticultural trade.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2025.2579570
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities