iGEM "Diversity and Inclusion Committee Office Hours"

[Jonathan Cline]

Diversity and Inclusion Committee Office Hours

If you have joined iGEM, we hope it is because you wanted to make the world a better place. We recognize that the same types of discrimination that affect larger society can ultimately apply to academia and STEM, and iGEM too. If iGEMers are building the most important industry for the future, how can we collectively ensure it is fair, equitable, and representative?

The Diversity & Inclusion Committee will be hosting "Office Hours" during the 2020 season to explore various Diversity and Inclusion topics with our community. During these sessions, we want to hear from our community about your experiences, and gather feedback and suggestions for HQ in an open forum format. We also welcome you to submit your thoughts through this anonymous feedback form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3S2JPT7

 

Office Hour 1: Black Lives Matter - Systemic Racism in Academia and STEM 

Thursday, July 16 at 1PM

Friday, July 17 at 11AM

The focus of the first Office Hour is on systemic racism in academia and STEM. This forum is intended to give the iGEM community a platform to discuss and understand diverse experiences with racism, and systemic racism especially in the context of Academia and STEM. Through this dialogue, we also want to hear your thoughts and ideas for improving iGEM.

This is a collaborative effort between iGEM HQ, the Diversity & Inclusion committee, and Ambassadors. HQ’s first actions have included: writing a statement about these values, creating a dedicated BLM page on the Diversity & Inclusion Hub, and setting up anonymous feedback forms and Share Your Story available for the iGEM community. We have received a lot of valuable feedback through the anonymous feedback form already, and now would like to offer further forums for open statements and discussions (such as this Office Hour). 

iGEM HQ believes that you - the iGEMers - are critical stakeholders in the iGEM community, and we hope you will continue to help us shape our practices for the better.

Please join us: Thursday, July 16 at 1PM EDT or Friday, July 17 at 11AM EDT 

Direct Link: https://2020.igem.org/Diversity/Office_Hours

Also this week

July 14-15, Experiences of Black STEM in the Ivory: A Call to Disruptive Action

[USA] This two-day event will bring together students, staff, faculty and leadership from five different academic institutions across the country to share their unique perspectives on the current barriers facing Black scholars in STEM fields with the goal of inspiring and challenging participants to take action to address racial inequities in STEM: https://www.moles.washington.edu/news-events/special-event-experiences-of-black-stem-in-the-ivory/

Know about any other events? Let us know: diversity [AT] igem [DOT] org