Service & outreach
Despite half of neuroscience graduate students identifying as women, we see progressively fewer women at the more advanced stages of the academic career path1. Shockingly, research articles by lead and senior authors that identify as women are only half as likely to be cited as those authored by men2. As a first-generation, white woman in Neuroscience, I am aware of the barriers faced by women, yet, I am also aware of my privilege: while diversity initiatives have led to an increase in the presence of white women, the existing barriers facing graduate students and postdocs in neuroscience continue to disproportionately affect people of color, LGBTQ scientists, ethnic minorities and those living with a disability3.
References:
1 Sibener, L. J., Kirchgessner, M. A., Steiner, S., Santiago, C., Cassataro, D., Rossa, M., ... & Padilla-Coreano, N. (2022). Lessons from the Stories of Women in Neuroscience. Journal of Neuroscience, 42(24), 4769-4773. Find the article here.
2. Chatterjee, P., & Werner, R. M. (2021). Gender disparity in citations in high-impact journal articles. JAMA Network Open, 4(7), e2114509-e2114509. Article here.
3. Cech, E. A. (2022). The intersectional privilege of white able-bodied heterosexual men in STEM. Science Advances, 8(24), eabo1558. Article link here.
Must read articles. Reach out to me if you cannot access these articles, I will help you out.
Soapbox Science 2024
Addressing invisible barriers is essential to attract and retain all talented people in science and thereby reshape our idea of who can be a scientist.
Soapbox Science is a public outreach platform for promoting women and non-binary scientists and the science they do: events take place in public areas into an arena for public learning and scientific debate. This year's Montreal event will take place on June 15th, 2024 at Place des Fleurs-de-Macadam, 8962 Mont-Royal Ave E.
Check out the global Soapbox Science movement here, and find more info on our Montreal initiatives on our LinkedIn page, the website formerly known as Twitter, or on Facebook!
NeuroWire Social Club
Equality in research means accesibility for all. Those from labs with lower funds should not to be excluded from gaining valuable experience and building their resume - independent of host institution, laboaratory financial status or geography. That's why I contributed to the organization of the first NeuroWire virtual Conference as part of the NeuroWire Social Club!
The NeuroWire Social Club (www.neurowire.ca) was created to keep the circuits neuroscience community together during the pandemic: With now over 500 active members from 23 countries, weekly scientific seminars and a thriving Discord community, the NeuroWire Club provides access to cutting-edge systems neuroscience seminars to everyone - independent of their host institution, laboratory financial status or geography.
Soapbox Science 2023
The first SoapBox Science event in Montréal was a huge success. I was thrilled to be part of this day as a speaker, with an interactive talk entitled: "The Power of Light: How Optogenetics Helps Us Understand the Brain"
McGill Peer Support Program
With peers often being the first point of contact for those seeking support, McGill's Peer Support Program aims to facilitate these supportive relationships between students who have a shared experience in common.
During my PhD training, I was part of the McGill Peer Support Program (2017-2018) with an active interest in the application of quality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles (participated in Active Listening Workshops as part of the McGill Peer Support program and Building an EDI Plan for Research Funding Applications through Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives McGill).
Check out the McGill Peer Support Organziation here.