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The Royal Society does have an ethnic monitoring process for staff and university research appointments and we agreed to supply the Commons select committee with details ("The Royal Society savaged by MPs", THES, May 10). But we do not monitor the ethnicity of fellows. There is no comprehensive ethnicity breakdown of senior scientists in UK universities, but a voluntary Higher Education Statistics Agency survey suggests that 97 per cent of professors in science, engineering and technology classify themselves as white.

Stephen Cox

Executive secretary, Royal Society