Update, June 23, 2020:
This webinar has been postponed. Any communications can be directed to Naomi Penfold (Community Manager) on ambassadors@elifesciences.org and may be forwarded to eLife editorial and executive leadership.
#
This month’s webinar will explore diversity and inclusion within academic research. After over a year of research and collaboration, eLife Community Ambassadors from the Intersectionality Initiative will present a synthesis of their research into the ways in which people working in research experience harm and loss of opportunity due to one or several elements of their identity, such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability status, and discuss why an intersectional approach to improving diversity is important.
The presenters will present examples of bias, discrimination, and microaggressions in academic science, and detail some ways in which we can all improve inclusivity in our workplace and interactions.
Chair:
Lotte de Winde is a postdoctoral research associate at MRC Laboratory for Molecular Life Sciences (University College London, London, UK). She works in the Stromal Immunology Group studying how dynamic protein interactions on lymph node fibroblasts control the immune response. Lotte has been a member of eLife Early-Career Advisory Group (ECAG) since August 2018.
Twitter: @lotte_dewinde
Presenters:
Sarah Hainer is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA where her lab focuses on how chromatin and transcription dynamics regulate cell fate. Sarah supports inclusion and is passionate in promoting inclusive practices within academics. To that end, Sarah has been leading the Intersectionality Initiative within the eLife Community Ambassador program.
Renuka Kudva has just recently finished her postdoc at the Dept. of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stockholm University, where she has studied the co-translational protein folding and translation dynamics. She is passionate about science communication and building inclusive work environments.
Freyja Olafsdottir is an Assistant Professor at the Donders Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Cognition (Radboud University, the Netherlands). Her lab focuses on studying the circuit mechanisms supporting episodic and spatial memory. Alongside her research, Freyja is a strong enthusiast and advocate for diversity and inclusion in academia.
If there is sufficient interest at the end of the scheduled session the speakers may decide to stay on the call for an additional 30 minutes to engage in a group discussion. At this point attendees will have the opportunity to be unmuted and chat directly to the panel and ask any further questions that weren't addressed in the webinar.
The webinar presenters, chair, and eLife support the renewed focus on tackling racism in science. This webinar is not specifically about tackling racism – there are alternative events and materials specifically addressing that issue, and we recommend engaging and participating with those efforts. If you are attending another event at the time of this webinar, please be assured the eLife ECR Wednesday webinar will be recorded and made available after the event to watch back. We share the recording on our blog, through Twitter and our ECR newsletter, and we email it out to all registered participants – so please feel free to register in order to receive the recording, even if you can’t join us live.
We hope you can join us at 4pm BST, June 24.
#
Interested in finding out more about opportunities, events and issues that are important for early-career researchers? Sign up to the eLife Early-Career Community newsletter or follow @eLifeCommunity on Twitter.
