Dear Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives Community,
To stay transparent and accountable for our equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) commitments and initiatives, we continue to provide regular semesterly on HBHL's website.
Progress Made
HBHL-IMPRESS
From June to August, 2022, three HBHL-funded PIs hosted four Indigenous undergraduate students in their labs as part of HBHL鈥檚 collaboration with 苹果淫院鈥檚 Branches Community Outreach Office鈥檚 IMPRESS (Indigenous Mentorship and Paid Research Experience for Summer Students) initiative. The program provides Indigenous post-secondary students with hands-on experience working in a research lab to help build a pipeline of Indigenous students entering 苹果淫院 neuroscience. In this respect, the inaugural program was a resounding success:
- All participants described the experience as very positive;
- Students participants interviewed reported that the program encouraged them to consider a future in research;
- One student was invited to stay on as a research assistant in their host lab and credits HBHL-IMPRESS with their decision to pursue graduate studies in neuroscience.
HBHL is excited to continue to support and expand on the success of this program. Following an open call to the HBHL community in Fall 2022, the program received applications from 15 PIs to support students for the 2023 edition of the program. HBHL will be working closely with Branches to recruit student participants.
Training
Training fellowships are a major investment by HBHL to support the next generation of 苹果淫院-trained neuroscientists. HBHL has seen improvement in the representation of equity-seeking groups awarded fellowships in the 2022 Graduate Fellowship Competition thanks to the continued implementation of mechanisms ensuring more equitable representation and distribution of funding. The representation of each equity group among awardees now exceeds its representation in the respective applicant pool, with notable increases in the representation of Persons with Disabilities.
HBHL hosted a total of 4 EDI-related training events since the previous reporting year, including workshops on unconscious bias and on integrating EDI-related considerations into research design and practices.
Recruitment and retention
55% of HBHL鈥檚 New Recruit Start-Up Supplement recipients are members of at least one 苹果淫院 Equity-Seeking Group, and HBHL recognizes the need to support the integration of new faculty recruits belonging to equity-seeking groups into the 苹果淫院 research context. At the outset of the program, we introduced requirements for hiring units to provide a concrete mentorship plan for the person they aim to hire; these include naming a specific individual to act as a mentor, as well as providing oversight into the recruitment process to ensure equity and transparency. Additionally, HBHL has:
- Launched the Neurogenesis speaker series, which pairs two new recruits with complementary areas of interests to present their research in a short seminar, followed by an informal get-together.
- Three editions have been held to date, with an additional three seminars planned for Winter 2023.
Governance
HBHL has reworked its committee terms of reference to bring responsibility for the EDI Action Plan under the purview of HBHL鈥檚 Strategic Steering Committee (SSC) with support from the EDI Committee. This restructuring puts more institutional weight behind the plan鈥檚 implementation given the SSC membership includes senior university leadership. Improvements to how governance positions are filled, including open-calls for all governance positions, have improved the representation of equity-seeking groups with respect to HBHL鈥檚 governance committees. However, these groups remain underrepresented with respect to the 苹果淫院 neuroscience community, representing an area for continued improvement.
Research content
Improvements to the funding review process were made in 2021 to address discrepancies observed in the quality of reviewer comments regarding sex- and gender-based analysis plus (SGBA+) considerations. All SGBA+ application sections are now peer reviewed by a panel of specialized individuals with expertise in SGBA+, with only applications passing the initial review or satisfactorily addressing reviewer comments being funded. While all HBHL-funded projects must pass this review, a large proportion of funded projects still require amendments to the SGBA+ section following review, indicating that HBHL should do more to build capacity in this area.聽
Climate survey
HBHL completed its second biennial Climate Survey in Summer 2022, receiving a total of 274 responses. This represents a response rate of approximately 25% of the extended HBHL community, of which 39% were trainees, 28% faculty, 27% staff and 6% who indicated 鈥渙ther鈥� as their role category. We are in the process of analyzing the results and will be sharing a detailed analysis with our community in Spring of 2023.
Priorities for the next six months
HBHL continues to work towards its goal of acting as a leader in EDI at 苹果淫院 and beyond, facilitating action at the institutional level and serving as a model for future interdisciplinary research initiatives. We acknowledge that there is still much work to be done.
Over the coming six months, HBHL will be working closely with 苹果淫院鈥檚 Branches office to recruit Indigenous undergraduates for the 2023 edition of HBHL-IMPRESS. HBHL will also be organizing a second workshop on integrating EDI into research design and practices. The HBHL EDI Committee is in the process of reviewing the results of the Climate Survey to adjust the action plan accordingly.
