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  • CAREER FEATURE

‘It’s like we’re going back 30 years’: how the coronavirus is gutting diversity in science

The pandemic is sabotaging the careers of researchers from under-represented groups, but institutions can help to staunch the outflow.
  1. Chris Woolston

    1. Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.

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Years of slow improvement in diversity and inclusion in science could come undone because of the COVID-19 crisis. In a June letter to Nature Ecology and Evolution1, 19 researchers from around the world warned that job losses during the pandemic might pose “disproportionate existential threats” to researchers from under-represented groups, including women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and those who are financially disadvantaged.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02288-3

References

  1. Maas, B. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 4, 997–998 (2020).

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  2. Staniscuaski, F. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.04.187583 (2020).

  3. Guarino, C. M. & Borden, V. M. H. Res. Higher Educ. 58, 672–694 (2017).

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