Community Voices

Disability has too often been peripheral to efforts to widen the STEMM pipeline, hampering research quality and innovation. Inspired by change in education delivery and research collaborations during the pandemic, we offer a structure for efforts to recruit and retain disabled scientists and practitioners.

The colonial practices of geoscience have created long term vulnerabilities to natural hazards. In this comment the ongoing consequence are explored of colonialism as well as the actions that are needed to be taken to reduce natural hazard risk.

Diversity is a creative force that broadens views and enhances ideas; it increases productivity as well as the impact of our science, making our respective organisations more agile and timely. Equality of opportunity is a key to success for any research organisation. Here we argue that every research organisation, whether in academia or in industry, needs to have better inclusion policies to harness the benefits of diversity in research. Drawing from our personal experiences and perspectives as women in science, we share our suggestions on how to promote inclusion in academia and create a better research culture for all. Our shared experiences highlight the many hurdles women in science face on a daily basis. We stress that rules and regulations, as well as education for awareness, will play critical role in this much needed shift from a male-dominated scientific culture that dates from Victorian times to a modern focus on gender equality in science. The key ingredients of this new culture will be flexibility, transparency, fairness and thoughtfulness.

Mentor relationships are crucial to retention, success, and wellbeing of women and underrepresented minority scientists in academia. A network of diverse mentors may support achieving long-term career goals, advancement, and retention of both mentors and mentees, thus enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Resilience is often invoked to address systemic marginalization (e.g. racism) in academia but inadvertently maintains harmful systems. We argue that the ability to transform systems, as opposed to persevering within them, must be prioritized to make real, lasting change.

The U. S. National Institutes of Health is committed to addressing gender discrimination and fostering inclusive excellence, which is critical for the advancement of creativity and innovation in science. Strategies and processes aimed at achieving these goals are discussed.

Understanding gaps in academic representation while considering the intersectionality concept is paramount to promoting real progress towards a more inclusive STEM. Here we discuss ways in which STEM careers can be sown and germinated so that inclusivity can flourish.

Racism thrives in geoscience. We present an antiracism plan to support the recruitment, retention and success of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in geoscience. Our action plan can be adapted by any organization to remove barriers to participation for all marginalized geoscientists.

Organizations have been founded to build communities by bringing together scientists from diverse backgrounds but with one shared identity and the common goal of strengthening their roles, increasing their visibility, and promoting their representation. In this conversation, representatives from three such organizations share their experiences and advice with Nature Communications. Priscilla Kolibea Mante (a Co-Chair), Encieh Erfani (a member of the Executive Committee) and Lisa Herzog (an alumna) of the Global Young Academy (GYA) discuss the role of their organization in supporting early career researchers. Kaela Singleton, the president-elect of Black In Neuro, discusses their mission to empower Black neuroscientists. Jennifer Thomson, the president of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), informs us about their efforts in providing career development, networking and leadership opportunities to women from the developing (and developed) world.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) scientists are an invisible minority that still faces harassment and discrimination. Fostering safe, designated LGBTQ+ environments is a way for the community to connect with each other and raise awareness. In honor of Pride Month (June 2021), Dr. Keisling (postdoctoral fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University), Dr. Le Bras (scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and Dr. Ludka (postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) share with Nature Communications their experiences bringing together the LGBTQ+ community at geoscience conferences, and offer advice for how other disciplines can do the same.

Our Community Voices series aims to highlight the challenges faced by under-represented groups in scientific research and to provide a platform to share possible solutions, to work towards a more diverse and equitable research landscape.