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Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

Session: Inspiring a New Generation of Seismology Leaders

Type: Oral

Date: 4/21/2021

Presentation Time: 10:30 AM Pacific

Description: 

In response to two calls from geoscientists of color: “Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for The Geosciences”¹ and “A Call to Action for an Anti-Racist Science Community from Geoscientists of Color: Listen, Act, Lead”², IRIS released a statement renewing our commitment to advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within our organization and our larger scientific community. As a community-governed organization funded by the National Science Foundation to operate the Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE) facility, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) looks to our community members to establish priorities within our organization. There are systemic inequalities in academia, particularly in the geosciences³, and we must make concrete actions to address inclusion and retention of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color. We recognize that there has been a lot of previous work done to address racism in geosciences, especially work done by people of color, and these resources continue to guide our efforts.

The IRIS justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (or JEDI) Working Group has met weekly since September 2020 to develop and discuss an Anti-Racism Action Plan for IRIS through 2023. Actions are both internal-facing for IRIS staff as well as external-facing for stakeholders in the wider community we serve (researchers, educators, students, the public). These actions will be incorporated into all aspects of how we do our work at IRIS, in order to make lasting and effective organization and community change. An initial draft of this action plan will be released in early 2021, and feedback is strongly encouraged. We strive to be responsive to community needs, transparent, and accountable, especially to students and early career researchers who are the future of our scientific field.

¹Ali et al. (2020) https://www.change.org/p/geoscientists-call-for-a-robust-anti-racism-plan-for-the-geosciences

²Morris et al. (2020) https://notimeforsilence.org/

³R.E. Bernard and E.H.G. Cooperdock (2018)

Presenting Author: Kasey Aderhold

Student Presenter: No

Authors