Diversity & Inclusion
We are committed to improving diversity and inclusion in science.
We at NCEAS value the diversity of expertise, backgrounds, needs, and experiences reflected among our residents, visitors, and broader communities. We acknowledge the historical and present-day inequities in the fields of ecology and data science and the larger systems of power and privilege that have contributed to these inequities, and we strive to actively redress them as an institution and as individuals. We are committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, parental status, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, citizenship status, and nationality.
We are currently working towards the following goals to advance diversity and inclusion:
- Foster an informed, welcoming, and inclusive culture at NCEAS
- Support diverse and inclusive working groups
- Increase and support the diversity of NCEAS staff and researchers
- Recognize and engage with diverse perspectives and communities external to NCEAS
- Provide training and other opportunities to individuals from under-represented groups in ecology
For more information on our intentions and expectations, please read our 2021 update of our DEI Strategic Plan and Code of Conduct.
We provide the following list of resources with the hope that they are useful and beneficial to the diverse individuals in our extended community. Some resources are general or simply informational; others are specific (e.g., third-party organizations that may help NCEAS visitors with unique needs, or resources provided by UCSB). If you believe something is missing from this list or if you have other suggestions for how we can do more to create an inclusive environment at NCEAS, please contact us.
Resources for on-site residents & visitors
- UCSB's My Family Resources for staff, faculty, and students
- UCSB Family Friendly Resources and Early Childhood Care and Education Guide
- Santa Barbara Family Child Care Association
- Recommended local private caregivers (offering on-call service, care at a hotel, etc): Sittercity (free registration, but you must pay for service) or ChildTime
- NCEAS has a private nursing room at our headquarters in Santa Barbara, available for use by all visitors and residents
- NCEAS is located at 1021 Anacapa Street, Suite 300 Santa Barbara, CA
- Parking is available right outside of the building in the Santa Barbara City Lot #8 on Anacapa Street between Figueroa and Carrillo streets. ADA accessible parking spots are available.
- The building elevator is ADA accessible.
- There are two gender-neutral restroom on the third floor of the building. All restrooms throughout the building are ADA accessible, as are all meetings rooms, kitchen spaces, and appliances.
Other general resources
- Inclusive Ecology, diversity resources from the Long Term Ecological Research Network
- A Primer on Diversity in STEM, from the ADVANCEGeo project.
- Small Pond Science: Recruitment without inclusion is futile—and maybe even counterproductive
- In a truly inclusive learning and work environment, everyone is able to be themselves without fear of being judged or excluded for it. ADVANCE Geo has compiled a helpful list of resources for creating an inclusive climate, as well as a set of guidelines and samples for writing codes of conduct.
- Diversify Ecology and Evolutionary Biology seeks to identify ecologists and evolutionary biologists who are women and/or from a group traditionally underrepresented in the sciences (e.g., those from racial or ethnic minorities, those with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQIA). The group’s goal is to help people identify scientists who might diversify seminar series, award nominees, etc. A companion list at diversify EEB grads focuses on PhD students.
- GeoReading for Equity, a reading list, equity primer, and conversation space assembled by a large group of contributors in the geosciences.
- Resources for conversations about safety, inclusivity and accessibility in field environments
- Resources for help in fully including people with disabilities in field experiences are still limited, but one good place to start is the International Association for Geoscience Diversity, which maintains discussion fora for scientists and aspiring scientists coping with a wide variety of challenges. They also run an accessible geology field trip each summer in association with the Geological Society of America annual meeting.
Diversity and collaborative research
- A raspberry of an idea: how to do inspired science as a group (Dynamic Ecology blog post on creating more inclusive working group environments)
- Gender-heterogeneous working groups produce higher quality science
- Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers
- Why are some groups smarter than others?
- Research team performance
- The Anti-Racism Starter Kit and Anti-Racism for Beginners. If you are, as a White person, a little afraid to get started because you don’t want to say the wrong thing (you will sometimes) or make the problem worse, these are good places to start reading. Antiracism is an active approach to recognizing and opposing racism in all its forms. It doesn’t necessarily require marching or tweeting or even donating. It does require work and self-awareness.
- White Academia: Do Better.
- Lab heads should learn to talk about racism
- #BlackintheIvory is a twitter hashtag that documents the challenges, affronts, and active hostility that Black students and academics have to overcome to be successful.
- Ten Simple Rules for Building an Anti-Racist Lab
- Navigating Racism: Black Graduate Students Need Support. Anita Jack Davies in The Conversation.
- Evidence-based Strategies for Improving Equity and Inclusion of Individuals in Underrepresented Racial and Ethic Groups. This 10-page review of broadening participation literature contains concise, descriptions of proven intervention strategies, with references.
- Academics for Black Survival and Wellness Week is a weeklong personal and professional development initiative for academics to honor the toll of racial trauma on Black people, resist anti-Blackness and white supremacy, and facilitate accountability and collective action.
- The US Department of Arts and Culture has developed a guide to acknowledging native lands (linked to a map of ancestral native territories). “Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.”
- Bright Horizons webinars on parenting
- aKIDemic Life: general resources for parents in academia
I feel synthesis centers play an important role in contributing to equity in science.