A UK perspective on tackling the geoscience racial diversity crisis in the Global North

Dowey, Natasha; Barclay, Jenni; Fernando, Ben; Giles, Sam; Houghton, Jacqueline; Jackson, Christopher; Khatwa, Anjana; Lawrence, A.R.; Mills, Keely; Newton, Alicia; Rogers, Steven; Williams, Rebecca

doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00737-w

Cited by 62 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Moreover, the ethnic group is unknown for a high proportion of the HESA dataset. Taken at face value the data suggests that BME students are under-represented in Geophysics compared to the UK population, which is consistent with the conclusions of Dowey et al [2021], who conducted a more detailed analysis of representation within the Geosciences in general.…”

Section: Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Coursessupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The Earth Sciences in general suffer from a lack of diversity and are likely to be one of the least diverse STEM fields [Bernard & Cooperdock, 2018]. This overall conclusion is also supported by data from the UK [Dowey et al, 2021]. Thus, geophysics is likely to suffer from similar issues.…”

Section: ) Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…The proportion of students sampled by the HESA data that responded as BME is 13%, 16%, 7%, 6% and 7% going back from 2018/19. For context, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on Ethnicity and National Identity in England and Wales 1 revealed that 86% of the population in 2011 gave their ethnic group as "White", while 18.5% of 18-24 yearolds came from Black, Asian, 'mixed' and 'other' backgrounds [Dowey et al, 2021]. The comparison between ONS and HESA data is not trivial because the two datasets sample different populations in different ways.…”

Section: Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An initial assessment of community representation and diversity within UK geophysics

Davies¹,

Hicks²,

Cox³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Section: Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Coursessupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: ) Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An initial assessment of community representation and diversity within UK geophysics

Davies¹,

Hicks²,

Cox³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The team consisted of PhD students (7, of which 2 women), postdocs (7, 4 women), with the addition of MSc students (2, both women), as well as a technician, a research fellow, senior lecturers (2, both women) and professor. Unfortunately, the lack of racial diversity in Earth sciences (Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018;Dowey et al, 2021;Dutt, 2019) was also reflected 85 in our team, and we were unable to form a team that showed the same diversity as the UK society and the audience at the exhibition.…”

Section: Outreach Team and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Magnetic to the Core – communicating paleomagnetism with hands-on activities

Boon

Biggin

Paterson

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Paleomagnetism is a relatively unknown part of Earth sciences that is not well integrated into the school curriculum in the United Kingdom. Throughout recent years, there has been a decline in the number of Earth science students in the UK. In 2018 and 2019, we developed outreach activities and resources to introduce the scientifically-engaged general public to paleomagnetism and raise awareness of how geomagnetism affects society today, thus putting paleomagnetism, and Earth sciences, in the spotlight. We tested our ideas at local events that were visited mostly by families with small children, with tens to hundreds of participants. Our project culminated in the ‘Magnetic to the Core’ stand at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2019, which is visited by members of the general public as well as students and teachers, scientists, policymakers and the media. At this event, we communicated the fundamentals of paleomagnetism through hands-on experiments and presented our recent research advances in a fun and family friendly way. To test the impact of our exhibit on knowledge of paleomagnetism and Earth’s magnetic field on visitors, we designed an interactive quiz and collected results from 382 participants over 8 days. The results show an increase in score of 19.1 % between those who had not yet visited the stand to those who had visited for more than 10 minutes. The results from school-age respondents alone show a larger increase in score of 28.1 % between those who had not yet visited and those who had spent more than 10 minutes at the stand. These findings demonstrate that this outreach event was successful in impacting visitors’ learning. We hope our Magnetic to the Core project can serve as an inspiration for other Earth science laboratories looking to engage a wide audience and measure the success and impact of their outreach activities.

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“…Beyond just ensuring safety, taught fieldwork should aim to be an experience where all participants feel they belong, and yet "perceptions and subsequent experiences of field teaching are mediated through [...] students' differing backgrounds" (Hughes, 2016, p.461). This is a particular challenge for GEES disciplines in certain parts of the Global North 1 , which are, for example, disproportionately white (Bromery, 1972;Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018;Dowey et al, 2021), and where fieldwork environments can be especially hostile to "individuals who do not conform to the stereotype of the able-bodied, white, cis-gender male rugged field scientist" 2 (Marín-Spiotta et al, 2020, p.121). Further, the financial costs associated with fieldwork present income/class barriers to participation (Giles et al, 2020;Abeyta et al, 2021;Ali et al, 2021).…”

Section: Belongingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators

Greene¹,

Antell²,

Atterby³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Ensuring taught fieldwork is a positive, generative, collective, and valuable experience for all participants requires considerations beyond course content. To guarantee safety and belonging, participants’ identities (backgrounds and protected characteristics) must be considered as a part of fieldwork planning and implementation. Furthermore, getting fieldwork right is an important step in disrupting the ongoing cycle of exclusion of participants from marginalised demographics. This document aims to provide those involved in field teaching in Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences (GEES) disciplines with a brief overview about how identity affects experiences of taught fieldwork, as well as some general tips and a practical checklist for creating a safe learning environment for all staff, demonstrators, and students in the field.

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A UK perspective on tackling the geoscience racial diversity crisis in the Global North

Cited by 62 publications

References 14 publications

An initial assessment of community representation and diversity within UK geophysics

An initial assessment of community representation and diversity within UK geophysics

Magnetic to the Core – communicating paleomagnetism with hands-on activities

Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators

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