RAPID: Leading Practices for Improving Accessibility and Inclusion in Field and Laboratory Science – A Conversation Series

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will convene a series of webinars that explore leading practices for improving accessibility for people with disabilities in scientific disciplines that conduct field and laboratory research. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a valuable perspective to discuss the changing landscape of opportunity in this area. The webinars will explore strategies for increasing accessibility for field and laboratory research in the physical, social, and life sciences, including: current barriers to full participation, accommodations that might assist with accessibility and inclusion, similarities and differences between fieldwork and laboratory research solutions, the role of mentoring and other support networks, how individual successes could translate into more generalizable practices, and the institutional policies and cultural change needed to ensure long-term change. This activity will encourage greater collaboration and coordination among members of the scientific community, with the goal of institutional and cultural change, and build upon the knowledge base that has been acquired since the beginning of the pandemic. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will organize and convene a series of virtual conversation-style webinars that explore leading practices for improving accessibility for people with disabilities in disciplines that conduct field and laboratory research. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a valuable perspective to discuss the changing landscape of opportunity for improved inclusion and accessibility. In this series, NASEM will explore the opportunities related to increasing accessibility for field and laboratory research in the physical, social, and life sciences, including current barriers to full participation; the potential for accommodations including, but not limited to, assistive technologies, support, or modification of duties to increase accessibility and inclusion; commonalities and differences in solutions for different types of fieldwork and lab science; the role of mentoring and other support networks in improving inclusion; how one might scale up individual successes into more generalizable practices; and the institutional policies and cultural change needed to ensure sustainability. This project builds upon the knowledge base that has been acquired since the beginning of the pandemic, when laboratories were closed and field work delayed or cancelled. Many of these actions have had a side effect of allowing increased inclusion of people with disabilities in activities. However, without a commitment to sustained change, practices explored during the pandemic might not be disseminated, scaled up, or continued. The conversations will be planned by a volunteer committee that will engage a broad range of perspectives and experience in the physical, social, and life sciences and will include several scientists with disabilities. The conversations will be scheduled approximately monthly over a six-month period. The format(s) will be determined by the planning committee, and may include talks that present information, panelists that delve deeply into different aspects of the topics, time for broad discussions with audience members, and appropriate break times. The conversation series will be held on a virtual platform, and will be livestreamed, recorded, and captioned to broaden the audience reach.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.