Through the Looking Glass - Breaking Barriers in STEM

Through the Looking Glass: Breaking Barriers in STEM

Shaping Inclusivity in STEM through Action

A report from the University and College Union found in 2016-17 academic year there were only 25 Black female professors in the UK compared to 14,000 White males. Disabled academic staff members reported feeling “intense isolation” within the university environments, whilst 89% of LGBTQ+ students felt there was a need for peer support in university. These descriptors – gender, ethnicity, sexuality – may be used to build parts of our personal identities, but they should not be the basis for inequity, discrimination, or poor mental health. With 86% of PhD students in the UK reporting feeling some level of anxiety (2019), changes need to be made to create a community and foster an environment in STEM that is as diverse as our areas of research.

SULSA and its partners, want everyone in Life Sciences and STEM subjects to feel seen and represented, and want to build a more diverse community than we currently have. With this in mind, we present Breaking Barriers in STEM: Through the Looking Glass, an action-orientated event to explore where the issues lie and identify actions to take forward to tackle these.

The event is in two parts, for the first we have four, exceptional, early career panellists who will give an account of their career path to date, and some of the experiences and challenges they have had working in STEM. This panel session will be introduced by Richard Lochhead (MSP). We hope that this session will serve to bring an awareness of challenges faced by specific groups within our community. After a short lunch break we will work in breakout groups to discuss 4 key topics and possible solutions. We hope to come away from today with a set of valuable actions that SULSA and our partners can take forward.

You are welcome to join us for both or either session. Anyone attending this event must follow the code of conduct described here to ensure a welcoming and safe environment for open discussion.

Program for the day:

12.00 - 12.10 Introduction: Richard Lochhead, MSP

12.10 - 12.20 Lara Lalemi

12.20 - 12.30 Diana Githwe

12.30 - 12.40 Apple Chew Yen Peng

12.40 - 12.50 Dr Jessica Boland

12.50 - 13.30 Questions to the panel

13.30 - 14.00 Lunch and Networking break

14.00 - 14.45 Breakout sessions start

14.45 - 15.30 Feedback from breakouts and final remarks

About our Panellists:

Lara Lalemi: 2nd year PhD student at the University of Bristol, Arctic survey STEM ambassador and featured on Bristol’s BME Powerlist in 2018 for her work organising diversity in STEM events.

Diana Githwe: 1st year PhD student at Newcastle University and author of Abundance of Melanin blog.

Apple Chew Yen Peng: 2nd year PhD student at University of Edinburgh and editor-in-chief of Edinburgh University Science Magazine.

Jessica Boland: Lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Co-Chair of the Disabled Staff Network at The University of Manchester.

Our panellists will also be facilitating the breakout sessions along with Ali Dun (SULSA), Ally Hughes, Kirsty Robb, Kristin Flegal (SINAPSE) and Alan Wiles (ScotCHEM).

Our breakout sessions:

Breakout session 1- Decolonising the curriculum – how can we ensure that future generations are not taught a white-washed version of science and history?

Breakout session 2 - The Leaky Pipeline – how can we support students from minority backgrounds through undergraduate and postgraduate study?

Breakout session 3 - Expanding our reach – how can we engage with developing countries to create a truly international scientific community?

Breakout session 4 - Mental Health and Wellbeing – how can we support postgraduate students and early career researchers with the stress of STEM careers?

If attending this part of the day and have a preference please fill in this survey. Alternatively you will be randomly allocated to a session.

SULSA’s ECR committee, with the support of the SULSA executive board, will assess the outcomes of these sessions and create an action plan to start tackling the issues that are raised.

This event has been developed by the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance (SULSA) and led by ECR representatives Ally Hughes (PhD Student University of Strathclyde, ECR Rep) and Kirsty Robb (Senior Scientist IBioIC, SULSA ECR Rep). We thank our fellow RIS members ScotCHEM, SUPA, MASTS, SRPe, SINAPSE and IBioIC for their support.

To find out more about SULSA visit our website and follow us on Twitter @SULSA_Tweets

To find out about the Scottish Research Pools and Innovation Centres and the work we are doing please visit Research Innovation Scotland

Artwork Competition:

We want to know what an inclusive and diverse environment in STEM looks like to you and so we are welcoming original creations that depict this. These creations can come in any form, audio, images, video or physical creations (send us a video of these).

Please upload your entries here by December 1st at 5pm.

The winner will be announced at our event and will win £150 in Amazon vouchers!