This year's symposium is being held in Vancouver, BC, on May 26, 2024!
Find out more info about this year's SWEEET here.
SWEEET (Section Working for Equity in Ecology and Evolution Today) is now a section of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE)!

SWEEET is a group that works to address systemic inequity in science by organizing an interactive symposium at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE).  We aim to address the challenges faced by marginalized folks in academic, government, and industry positions within the fields of ecology and evolution with the goal of increasing awareness, promoting strategies, and inspiring action that cultivate inclusive, communal, and accountable workplace cultures and relationships.

Implicit biases and systemic inequities embedded in and around our institutions create barriers to participation and exclude individuals with marginalized identities. Historically, these barriers have resulted in the underrepresentation of marginalized identities in science. This underrepresentation not only plants and perpetuates harmful ideas and stereotypes within ourselves and within institutions, but influences and informs the science that we put forth, leading to science that is biased in and of itself. Because these biases and inequities are multifaceted in their manifestations and impacts, our solutions and strategies to combatting exclusion in science must also be multidimensional. 

As an integral part of the annual CSEE meetings, the goals of SWEEET include: 
  • Using education to increase awareness and recognition of the challenges equity-seekers face in the modern scientific workforce, the inequitable legacies scientific institutions are built upon, and how to foster responsibility for our positions relative to others 
  • Sharing actionable individual and institutional strategies and tools that promote participation, engagement, and collaboration and that cultivate inclusion, respect, and belonging in science
  • Facilitating networking opportunities for students and early-career scientists with established scientists from universities, government, and industry

Although a forum exists in the US to discuss these issues, no such forum existed in Canada until SWEEET.  In partnership with the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE), we have offered the symposium every year since 2008 and are excited to take our next steps as a section as of 2023.

Find out more about our previous symposia here.
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