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Next steps for global collaboration to minimize racial and ethnic bias in neuroscience

Nature Neuroscience volume 26, pages 1132–1133 (2023)Cite this article

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Neuroscience research is affected by a substantial racial bias, but there are major challenges involved in minimizing this bias. Here we discuss these challenges and call for a global discussion that develops answers to these challenges and defines best practices for how researchers can better represent human diversity and work against medical racism. This global discussion should involve researchers from medicine, life sciences, social sciences, and humanities, as well as people with lived experience and health equity activists, to improve racial and ethnic equity in neuroscience research and beyond.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the TUM Innovation Network Neurotechnology for Mental Health (Neurotech).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science, Technology & Society, TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Ruth Müller, Anja Kathrin Ruess, Franziska Britta Schönweitz & Alena Buyx

  2. Department of Economics & Policy, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Ruth Müller & Anja Kathrin Ruess

  3. Institute of History and Ethics in Medicine, TUM School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Franziska Britta Schönweitz & Alena Buyx

  4. Department of Neurology and TUM-Neuroimaging Center, TUM School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Cristina Gil Ávila & Markus Ploner

Authors
  1. Ruth Müller
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  2. Anja Kathrin Ruess
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  3. Franziska Britta Schönweitz
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  4. Alena Buyx
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  5. Cristina Gil Ávila
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  6. Markus Ploner
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Correspondence to Ruth Müller or Markus Ploner.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Müller, R., Ruess, A.K., Schönweitz, F.B. et al. Next steps for global collaboration to minimize racial and ethnic bias in neuroscience. Nat Neurosci 26, 1132–1133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01369-6

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