Being ECR in marine science: Results of a survey among early-career marine scientists and conservationists

Abstract

Ocean research and conservation are still largely exclusive fields, with ongoing issues of racial, gender, class, and geographic underrepresentation. To improve accessibility and retention within these fields, we need to create equitable, just, and welcoming study and work environments. It is therefore crucial to listen to the voices of students and early career ocean professionals (ECOP). We conducted an online survey on the study- and workplace experiences of ECOP, focusing on social obstacles, such as economic strain, unpaid work, and workplace discrimination and abuse. Strong economic barriers to education access were evident in certain geographic areas. Almost half of the reported work time in the field was uncompensated, yet unpaid work rarely translated into career advancement and was often associated with workplace abuse. Dissatisfaction and burn-out rates at the earliest career stages were alarming, and experienced hardship and mental health issues were particularly dire for women and non-binary persons. While most respondents were white and from the global north, meaning the results may not reflect experiences of ECOP in other regions, this study highlights some of the barriers to equity as well as work ethics issues that should be urgently addressed within the field.

Black Women in Ocean Science: Barriers to Advancement and Strategies to Move Forward

“…Access, as defined by Ribot and Peluso (2009), is "the ability to derive benefit from things, " and it is necessary for individuals to participate in a field actively. Lack of access significantly threatens participation and success in the ocean sciences (Osiecka et al, 2022). For Black women, a lack of access can occur in various ways, but more specifically, chronic illness and disability can impact a student's access to STEM fields (Peterson, 2021).…”

Canada's marine carbon sink: an early career perspective on the state of research and existing knowledge gaps

“…Rather, early career researchers should be given the opportunity to connect (as part of their research project) to a platform that enables them to collaborate with other multidisciplinary researchers, bringing together social scientists, economists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers. Beyond training, at the forefront of recruiting students all the way to research chairs, the focus should be on increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion within our field to spark new ideas, solutions, and perspectives (Osiecka et al 2022). Fair and equitable financial support for graduate student and postdoc work (Laframboise et al 2023), mental health support, and fostering greater peer-to-peer collaborative opportunities lead to more diverse, happier, healthier, and more productive labs (Osiecka et al 2022).…”

“…Beyond training, at the forefront of recruiting students all the way to research chairs, the focus should be on increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion within our field to spark new ideas, solutions, and perspectives (Osiecka et al 2022). Fair and equitable financial support for graduate student and postdoc work (Laframboise et al 2023), mental health support, and fostering greater peer-to-peer collaborative opportunities lead to more diverse, happier, healthier, and more productive labs (Osiecka et al 2022). The next generation of ocean scientists faces significant adversity in informing policy efforts to meet global net-zero emissions targets while grappling with past and current injustices around truth and reconciliation efforts here in Canada.…”

Fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in interdisciplinary marine science

“…Diversity is the presence of differences that may include race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconom Marine science in general has been shown to fall short of considering DEI 6,7 , with recent studies highlighting persistent imbalances related to gender equity [8][9][10] , cultural representation, and language (i.e., English) dominance of global minority institutions [11][12][13] , the cost of leading on and participating in science 14 , senseof-belonging 15 , and neurodiversity 16 , among other issues 17 . While there has been limited focus on the status of DEI in interdisciplinary marine research and the extent to which the field succeeds in bringing together diverse individuals and groups, we theorise that DEI issues, as well as the benefits of DEI, might be even greater in this field.…”