What encourages participation in your research environment?
A recent emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in grant applications, study design, and university policies across academia has begun to draw new attention to social aspects of research practice. Increasingly, researchers are encouraged to consider the societal impacts of their work on diverse populations or to commit to equitable hiring and development opportunities. But what does inclusion – the intentional creation of a space and dynamic which encourages active participation from everyone – look like at the lab level?
Research labs are a unique and essential context to consider in the larger EDI landscape, particularly with respect to their impact on graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Proactive interpersonal communication is crucial for graduate students to learn within their labs [1], which often lack formal training structures or procedures for knowledge transfer [2]. Interactions within a lab group can thus shape the course of both a lab’s research output and the well-being of its members, particularly for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows relying on their lab group’s structure and support. Although culturally diverse backgrounds and working experiences among research collaborators have been shown to increase research impact [3], lab group dynamics often prove isolating, competitive, and dysfunctional, especially for graduate students belonging to minority groups [4]. Moreover, despite the relevance of social education to successful and respectful interpersonal collaboration, intentional opportunities for graduate students to learn about EDI are often missing from lab settings, as well as more broadly in academic departments [5].
With significant variability in lab norms across institutions, disciplines, lab group compositions and sizes, research cultures, and supervisory styles, interrogating what works (and what doesn’t!) to create an inclusive team environment should be an ongoing priority. Importantly, consider that systemic factors and commonly accepted behaviors in academia may negatively impact lab members and exacerbate existing inequities. In a recent paper, Hammer et al. suggest that although a focus on quantitative outcomes, perfectionism, competition, time scarcity, power dynamics, bias towards maintaining the status quo, and financial stress contribute to negative lab culture, concrete practices can be implemented to mitigate their effects. In response, their lab intentionally celebrates effort over outcomes, prioritizes intra-lab community building, solicits anonymous feedback from trainees, and works to materially and professionally support its members [6]. This process of re-evaluating the lab group environment may indeed seem daunting. However, by shifting priorities to emphasize inclusion, small changes can offer large opportunities to better research outcomes alongside the well-being of lab group members.
Is your lab a ‘safe space’? Here are some different components of safety which Duffy et al. consider relevant to a lab environment: “physical safety; psychological safety; safety from racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of harassment and discrimination; safety to make mistakes and learn from them; safety to report results from experiments that don’t work or that do not align with the dominant theory in the lab; and safety to ask questions and raise concerns.” [7]
To round off our discussion (and hopefully to begin your own!), GEEC has compiled a few starting points for how to improve inclusion in the lab:
Learn about how EDI is relevant to your research environment & check out what other labs are doing. Like the practices suggested by Hammer et al., many labs are sharing their own efforts and insight on creating inclusive research & collaborative ecosystems. For example, transgender scientist Dr. Barker’s emphasis on Oxford’s outreach platforms indicate communication as key to inclusivity and visibility of diverse populations in STEM [8]. From recruiting students from different countries to fostering an ethos of culture & respect, these reflections point to a common root – to make the lab a place where everyone can be themselves [9].
Reflect on your own research environment and check in with each other! Particularly for principal investigators, understanding the social context of lab work to adopt inclusive leadership practices is a crucial responsibility [10]. Principal investigators are in a unique position to help their lab members identify and implement strategies that will facilitate healthy team dynamics. The best way to learn what would help a lab member to participate is often just to ask – everyone brings their own perspective and working style to the team! Even for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, one-on-one discussion of lab practices and their impact on lab members can be crucial opportunities to learn from and support each other as peers.
Make time to discuss EDI in group settings. Perhaps each member of the lab could lead an EDI-focused journal club on a topic that is relevant to their research or future career interests. Not only can these conversations raise awareness of shared challenges to navigate together and ideas to improve research dynamics, but they demonstrate a commitment to inclusive values. Check out our list of references below for some great papers to start with!
Make time to consider your individual relationship to EDI. While group dynamics are key, individual lab members taking the initiative can make a big difference! Take advantage of EDI trainings such as McGill’s Our Shared Spaces workshops or GEEC’s programming tailored for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Faculty of Engineering.
Explore and normalize making use of practical supports. McGill offers a range of equity-centered services and resources for students and staff, but gaps in support or barriers to accessing resources should be considered at the lab level. While communicating expectations for research progress clearly, encourage and respect lab members setting boundaries and/or arranging accommodations that contribute to their physical and mental health [7]. An MIT professor putting a crib in his lab for his graduate student’s baby is an excellent example of a supervisor finding an innovative way to ensure a family-friendly lab environment [11].
If you would like to talk with GEEC about your own lab practices, please reach out to us at equity.geec@gmail.com – or submit your own ideas for inclusion here by April 10th to be entered into our draw for prizes!
[1] Crede, E.D. et al. Application of Community of Practice Theory to the Preparation of Engineering Graduate Students for Faculty Careers. Advances in Engineering Education 2, EJ1076156 (2010).
[2] Park, J.J. et al. The chemical engineering research laboratory as context for graduate students' training: The role of lab structure and cultural climate in collaborative work. Learning, Culture, and Social Interaction 13, 113-122 (2017).
[3] Alshebli, B.K. et al. The preeminence of ethnic diversity in scientific collaboration. Nature Communications 9, 5163 (2018).
[4] Rodriguez, S. L. et al. How STEM lab settings influence graduate school socialization and climate for students of color. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 15 (1), 58–72 (2022).
[5] Perez, R. J. et al. Exploring graduate students’ socialization to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 13 (2), 133–145 (2020).
[6] Hammer, J. et al. Lab Counterculture. CHI EA '20: Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-14 (2020).
[7] Duffy, M.A. et al. Supporting mental health and productivity within labs. NeuroView 109 (20), P3206-3210 (2021).
[8] Glausiusz, J. ‘I was no longer pretending or hiding’: a trans scientist finds a lab to call home. Nature 589, 322 (2021).
[9] Powell, K. These labs are remarkably diverse — here’s why they’re winning at science. Nature 558, 19-22 (2018).
[10] Dewsbury, D. & Seidel, S. Reflections and Actions for Creating an Inclusive Research Environment. Current Protocols Essential Laboratory Techniques 21, e43 (2020).
[11] Free, C. MIT professor goes viral for putting a crib in his lab to help a new mother. The Washington Post (2021).