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Addressing the opportunity gap in the Latin American neuroscience community

Nature Neuroscience volume 25, pages 1115–1118 (2022)Cite this article

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Although issues surrounding diversity and inclusion in science are global, distinctive region-specific socioeconomic factors and operational biases interact to widen the opportunity gap and exacerbate the isolation of specific groups of disadvantaged scientists on the global stage. This commentary reviews the issues currently faced by the Latin American (neuro)science community and outlines key actions on multiple fronts to overcome the barriers impeding their global inclusion, visibility and success.

Strategic initiatives to foster equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in (neuro)science have increased substantially in recent years around the world, aided by a massive coordinated international commitment and effort to expand science globally (500 Women Scientists, BiasWatchIndia, BiasWatchNeuro, Black in Neuro, Declaration on Research Assessment, EDIS by Wellcome, Queer in Neuro, Women in Neuroscience Repository, Women’s NeuroNetwork, World Women in Neuroscience and EDI committees at various universities). Yet, imbalances persist, particularly in resource-limited countries in the Global South that have additional challenges related to funding, political instability and sociocultural inequities1. Taken together, these imbalances create a playing field with unequal starting points. In Latin America, economic factors, cultural norms and political environments greatly influence the degree of research investment and minority rights protection, two major elements that contribute to low levels of efficiency, productivity and diversity in scientific research activities. By outlining these and other challenges, we call for more attention and customized solutions to address the specific disadvantages faced by Latin American neuroscientists (LAN).

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Fig. 1: Gender differences in education paths and academic careers in LAN.

Data availability

The datasets analysed during the current study are available in the published article summarizing its results3: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibneur.2021.01.006. These datasets were derived from the following public domain resource2: https://ibro.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/REPORT-IBRO-ECLAC2020.

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Acknowledgements

The ALBA Network is financially supported by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the Lundbeck Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ALBA Network, Brussels, Belgium

    Ana Silva, Keerthana Iyer, Francesca Cirulli, Elaine Del-Bel, Zulma Dueñas, Edna Matta-Camacho, José Luis Peña, Gregory J. Quirk, Valeria Ramirez-Castañeda & Carmen Sandi

  2. Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Ana Silva

  3. Center for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Instituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

    Francesca Cirulli

  4. University of São Paulo, Dental School of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Elaine Del-Bel

  5. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Zulma Dueñas

  6. Fundación STEM sin Fronteras, Colombia/Canada, Ibagué, Colombia

    Edna Matta-Camacho

  7. Einstein Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    José Luis Peña

  8. University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA

    Gregory J. Quirk

  9. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Valeria Ramirez-Castañeda

  10. Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Carmen Sandi

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  1. Ana Silva
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  10. Carmen Sandi
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ana Silva or Carmen Sandi.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Neuroscience thanks María Castelló, Diego Rayes and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Silva, A., Iyer, K., Cirulli, F. et al. Addressing the opportunity gap in the Latin American neuroscience community. Nat Neurosci 25, 1115–1118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01154-x

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