SWEEEET 2019
Intersectionality: What is it and how can it inform our workplace and research practices?
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Symposium Time: 1 - 5 pm - will include free snacks and refreshments!
Location: PSA – Point Ste. Anne, FCC
Symposium Time: 1 - 5 pm - will include free snacks and refreshments!
Location: PSA – Point Ste. Anne, FCC
This year we are re-branding from SWEEET (Symposium for Women Entering Ecology and Evolution Today) to SWEEEET in acknowledgement of this years joint meeting with the Entomological Society of Canada and the Acadian Entomological Society.
Everyone attending CSEE, ESC & AES 2019 is encouraged to participate in SWEEEET.
Intersectionality refers to the complex ways in which multiple oppressed identities pertaining to sex, gender, race, class, family role, and others overlap. Although an often-used term, many people have questions about what intersectionality is.
This year, SWEEEET aims to engage attendees around issues of intersectionality, helping them identify with and understand the many ways in which discrimination compounds to impact the diversity of the field of ecology, evolution and beyond.
It is our goal to not only help participants understand intersectional issues, but also leave them with actionable items that can be brought back to their home institutions to create more inclusive, equitable workspaces.
To do this, our workshop will include: talks from individuals with experience leading the way in making academia more intersectional, a small group break-out session to give individuals tangible ways to make space for and listen to diverse perspectives and a networking event to facilitate further discussion.
Everyone attending CSEE, ESC & AES 2019 is encouraged to participate in SWEEEET.
Intersectionality refers to the complex ways in which multiple oppressed identities pertaining to sex, gender, race, class, family role, and others overlap. Although an often-used term, many people have questions about what intersectionality is.
This year, SWEEEET aims to engage attendees around issues of intersectionality, helping them identify with and understand the many ways in which discrimination compounds to impact the diversity of the field of ecology, evolution and beyond.
It is our goal to not only help participants understand intersectional issues, but also leave them with actionable items that can be brought back to their home institutions to create more inclusive, equitable workspaces.
To do this, our workshop will include: talks from individuals with experience leading the way in making academia more intersectional, a small group break-out session to give individuals tangible ways to make space for and listen to diverse perspectives and a networking event to facilitate further discussion.
Program
Time |
Event |
12:30 PM |
Registration Opens |
1:00-1:10 PM |
Opening Remarks Ariel Greiner & Anne-Sophie Caron |
1:10-1:50 PM |
|
1:50-2:05 PM |
Break |
2:05-3:20 PM |
|
3:20-3:35 PM |
Break |
3:35-4:05 PM |
|
4:05-4:20 PM |
Break |
4:20-5:00 PM |
Networking Session |
Plenary Talks and Activity
Plenary Talk (Camera Ford):“What I Learned from Biocultural Work: Applying an Intersectional Lens to Scientific Research”
What is intersectionality and how can it relate to scientific research? What does it mean to “decolonize science”? These questions are important to ask and understand in the pursuit of making your research practices more equitable. In addition to exploring the aforementioned, Camera Ford will share what she has learned about approaching research with an intersectional lens during her time spent conducting biocultural conservation work centered in the Solomon Islands.
What is intersectionality and how can it relate to scientific research? What does it mean to “decolonize science”? These questions are important to ask and understand in the pursuit of making your research practices more equitable. In addition to exploring the aforementioned, Camera Ford will share what she has learned about approaching research with an intersectional lens during her time spent conducting biocultural conservation work centered in the Solomon Islands.
Group Activity (Madeline Peters):“Gaining Insight, Taking Action: Recognizing, learning from and acting on our unintended impacts”
We try our best to be mindful of the things that we say and do. However, despite our genuine efforts to be inclusive in both our academic and person endeavours, we are only human and have been socialized by the same problematic systems as everyone else. Developing our awareness is a long process and inevitably, we all make mistakes from time to time that may have unintended and harmful impacts. Join in a conversation about how to recognize these impacts in a productive way and integrate the learning we gain from the process to do better in the future. We will explore a number of practical tools for navigating these situations with an opportunity to practice building our capacity to turn insight into action.
We try our best to be mindful of the things that we say and do. However, despite our genuine efforts to be inclusive in both our academic and person endeavours, we are only human and have been socialized by the same problematic systems as everyone else. Developing our awareness is a long process and inevitably, we all make mistakes from time to time that may have unintended and harmful impacts. Join in a conversation about how to recognize these impacts in a productive way and integrate the learning we gain from the process to do better in the future. We will explore a number of practical tools for navigating these situations with an opportunity to practice building our capacity to turn insight into action.
Plenary Talk (Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs):“Building a System for an Inclusive University”
The evidence is clear and the conclusion is without doubt: academia (and many other institutions, of course) has been consistently and predictably selecting against participation by people of equity seeking groups. However, the Methods by which we hope to improve the situation are in need of serious scrutiny. At present, these methods will, at best, maintain the status quo. With a Systems Approach to understanding the problem we will see the need for change at a higher level than any individual decision maker and their biases. Let's think bigger and make enduring change.
The evidence is clear and the conclusion is without doubt: academia (and many other institutions, of course) has been consistently and predictably selecting against participation by people of equity seeking groups. However, the Methods by which we hope to improve the situation are in need of serious scrutiny. At present, these methods will, at best, maintain the status quo. With a Systems Approach to understanding the problem we will see the need for change at a higher level than any individual decision maker and their biases. Let's think bigger and make enduring change.
Invited Plenary Speakers
Camera Ford is currently a Helen Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where she conducts research at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and teaches high school girls computational science. Camera’s research interests include applying remote sensing and GIS to questions in earth science and ecology, particularly to those that affect marginalized communities. Her current research investigates the drivers behind a moth that eats subsistence crops in the Solomon Islands. She loves engaging in science outreach, including mentoring young female scientists and scientists of color; volunteering with science outreach open houses and panels; and talking to audiences of all ages about her research, earth science topics, and the path to becoming a scientist. She is an incoming Fulbright Scholar at the Technical University of Delft, where she will be doing an MSc in science communication and remote sensing. You can find her on twitter at @scattered_roots.
Madeline Peters is a Top Doctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, where she has been a PhD student since 2017. She is an evolutionary biologist, who addresses questions about malaria parasite evolution using mathematical, computational and population genetic approaches. Since 2014, Madeline has been working in a number of roles in student and residence life at the University of Toronto, during which she has focused on helping undergraduate students integrate into a university environment and navigate the various formal and informal resources (as well as systemic barriers) on campus and within the Toronto area.
Shoshanah Jacobs (they/them) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph. Their research and teaching in biology and transdisciplinary education seeks to identify and reduce the barriers to access that high impact teaching can present. They are the co-founder of a barrier reduced curricular experiential learning program called IdeasCongress that brings students from all year levels and disciplines together to learn foundational skills in a community-engaged project. Dr. Jacobs also does research on seabird foraging ecology in the Arctic where questions range from how to use foraging data to monitor ocean changes? to how individuals select others to mate? Their work has been recognised in the awarding of the Distinguished Professor in Teaching Excellence Award (2015) and the YM/WCA Woman of Distinction Award (2018). A polar expedition leader in their previous career, they continue to lead expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. The next one is for women and is scheduled for July 2020. A full supporter of #AcademicTwitter, you can find them at @shoshanahjacobs.
Feedback
Thank you for joining us in 2019, please fill out the anonymous SWEE(E)T 2019 Exit Survey after attending the workshop to help us improve and better engage in future discussions!
Thank you for joining us in 2019, please fill out the anonymous SWEE(E)T 2019 Exit Survey after attending the workshop to help us improve and better engage in future discussions!
SWEEET gratefully acknowledges the following 2019 sponsors:
- McGill University (Department of Biology)
- NSERC Women in Science and Engineering
- University of British Columbia (Research & Graduate Studies)
- University of Guelph (Department of Integrative Biology & College of Biological Sciences)
- University of Victoria (School of Environmental Studies)
- Université de Montréal (Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (IRBV))
- Wilfrid Laurier University (Department of Biology)
- University of Calgary (Faculty of Science)
- University of New Brunswick (Faculty of Science)
- University of Saskatchewan (Biology Department)
- Western University (Faculty of Science)
- University of Toronto (Department of Ecology and Evolution)
2019 Organizing Committee
- Anne-Sophie Caron (PhD Student, McGill University)
- Ariel Greiner (PhD Student, University of Toronto)
- Cylita Guy (PhD Student, University of Toronto)
- Allyson Menzies (PhD Student, McGill University)
- Dori McCombe (Lab Instructor & Coordinator, University of Guelph)
- Amy Parachnowitsc (Assistant Professor, University of New Brunswick)
- Madeline Peters (PhD Student, University of Toronto)
- Edward Tekwa (Postdoctoral Fellow, Rutgers University/University of Toronto)
- Xueqi Sharon Wang (PhD Student, University of Guelph)