WK 41 - SWEEET (Symposium for Women and Equity-seekers in Ecology & Evolution Today): Reflecting on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives in Canada and the US: What Can We Learn from Each Other?

Friday, August 19, 2022

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

Location: 515C

Organizer(s)

SK

Sian Kou-Giesbrecht

Postdoctoral researcher
Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Co-organizer(s)

LK

Leila Krichel

PhD candidate
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
AG

Ariel Greiner

University of Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
AC

Ariane Cantin

University of Calgary, Canada
LA

Louise Archer

University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada
CB

Carling Bieg, n/a

Ph.D. Candidate
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
MB

Megan Brownlee

Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
Madeline E. Jarvis-Cross

PhD Candidate
University of Toronto, Canada
Anne-Sophie Caron

PhD Candidate
Concordia University
Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Session Description: SWEEET (Symposium for Women and Equity-Seekers in Ecology and Evolution Today) has been an important component of CSEE annual meetings for over 10 years and we are excited to bring it to this joint CSEE/ESA meeting. Given this special opportunity to meet with researchers from both Canada and the United States, we seek to open a discussion about best practices in both countries for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives have gained traction across universities and scientific disciplines in Canada and the United States. While initiatives on both sides of the border have shared features, they may diverge in a number of significant ways. This is in part because social issues differ between countries, and in part due to differences in the established institutional frameworks within which we operate. This session will be a 1.5 hr panel discussion on EDI strategies and initiatives in Canada and the United States and will highlight commonalities, differences, and lessons we may learn from one another. We plan to invite prominent EDI scholars from both sides of the border, from within and outside of academia. Topics will include: ‘Working Inclusively with Indigenous Nations’, ‘Curriculum Reform’, ‘Hiring, Recruitment, and Retention Practices at all Levels in Academia’, and ‘Funding and Data Collection for EDI Initiatives’. The speakers for this session are Nicole Mideo, Carla Cáceres, Andrea Reid, and Danielle Lee.

SWEEET organises the equity event at the annual meeting of CSEE so it would be helpful to have our name in the session title so that previous / yearly attendees at SWEEET can associate the event with us.