[CODATA-international] Please Say NO to Racism in Science

Mon Dec 19 06:15:30 EST 2022

Dear colleagues

It is very disappointing to read about the scale of racial discrimination from the Nature article “How UK science is failing Black researchers” (published 14 Dec 2022)

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-04386-w/index.html

Data shows structural racism is widespread in some UK Universities. More interventions and positive actions are needed to reverse this.

This is a wider problem affecting Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff in some UK universities. For example, this article in Guardian (dated 12 Dec 2022) gives example from a BAME academic at University of Portsmouth

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/12/portsmouth-university-loses-discrimination-case-against-indian-lecturer-kajal-sharma

It saddens me to see the scale of racism in some UK universities.

There is no place for Racism in any UK Universities. I am hoping with more UK Universities  joining the Race Equality Charter https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-charters/race-equality-charter  and implementing  actions things will change. These conversations are important to bring us all together to create a better world for everyone.

There is a need to expand the university education opportunities available to students from BAME backgrounds, not only in geospatial science, but in science generally. There is so much talent out there that just isn’t getting an opportunity. So now, I am hoping to bring together university leaders and to advocate for each Russell Group university (the most prestigious and richest universities in the UK) to provide 100 full scholarships per year for BAME students, students from economically poor families and first-generation students . The question is not “why do this?”, the question is “why not do this?”. This would create a huge ripple effect for representation in science.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/please-share-ideas-providing-higher-education-more-first-anand/

I think it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure equal access and to fight against racism in science. We must all try to make sure that there is no racial discrimination in our department or in our team, and to speak out against racism, and to support colleagues who report these problems.

Please take pledge for eliminating racism from UK universities.  Let us all work for making science and education more accessible, inclusive and equitable for the benefit of all.

Best wishes

Suchith

________________________________
From: Suchith Anand
Sent: 02 December 2022 15:32
Subject: Re: Say NO to Racism in Science

Dear colleagues

It is very disappointing to read about the scale of racial discrimination at some UK universities.

https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/tackling-racism-campus

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/28/uk-universities-are-institutionally-racist-says-leading-vice-chancellor

There is no place for Racism in any UK Universities.

I am grateful for the support that I got from colleagues around the world for my work for building Race Equality in Geospatial Science. I am touched by the support and kind messages that I got from the International Science Council , research funders and colleagues from around the world.

I am hoping that through sharing my racism experiences, lessons are learnt so that colleagues and students do not face any racism in the future.

Please take pledge for eliminating racism from our universities. Let us all work for making science and education more accessible, inclusive and equitable for the benefit of all.

Best wishes

Suchith

________________________________
From: Suchith Anand
Sent: 08 November 2022 12:09
Subject: Say NO to Racism in Science

Dear colleagues,

I want to thank all authors for sharing their racism experiences in the recent Special issue of the journal Nature dedicated to overcoming racism in science. Details at https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-022-00031-8/index.html

There are many articles in different disciplines in this special issue including an article on racism in geoscience in a UK university. It is very disappointing to read about the scale of Racial discrimination happening in science and higher education environments.

There is a huge pressure to hide racial discrimination issues in some UK universities. Hence it is important to have support structures and frameworks in universities and scientific organisations so that more colleagues who are suffering racial discrimination and injustices can get courage to share their racism experiences, so lessons are learnt, appropriate and effective actions are taken, so that colleagues and students do not face any racism in the future. This is important to help build Race Equality in Science in the long term.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/say-racism-science-suchith-anand/

I would like to thank International Science Council, Research Funders, Scientific Associations, Leaders of Universities and colleagues from around the world who send kind messages of support to me for my work on helping build Race Equality in Geospatial Science. Your kindness is greatly appreciated.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/race-equality-charter-uk-universities-suchith-anand

It is important to have initiatives like GeoForAll to help build Race Equality in Geospatial Science in the UK.  I would like to thank all colleagues in GeoForAll for their contributions to help build Race Equality in Geospatial Science.

Best wishes

Suchith

Dr Suchith Anand

Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | Board member | Governance | Policy | Consultant in Data Science and Data Ethics | Global Citizen | SDG Volunteer and Advocate

https://council.science/profile/suchith-anand/

https://www.rd-alliance.org/users/suchith-anand

https://ethicaldatainitiative.org<https://ethicaldatainitiative.org/>

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