LEAPS: Enabling Scientific Societies to Support Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable & Accepting (IDEA) Scientific Environments

科学机构越来越多地认识到，需要为历史上在科学领域代表性不足的个人消除障碍，并改善多样性、公平性和包容性（DEI）。需要通过改进DEI来实现更广泛的科学能力，以解决具有全球影响的许多关键科学问题。然而，提高DEI需要重大的文化转变，而科学社会提供了一个独特的平台来领导生物科学中的这些文化变革。科学社团代表了各种各样的个人和机构；他们可以接触到生物学的多个领域，传授资源和教育；它们还可以使许多学科和组织之间的网络和想法共享成为可能，从而为新的方法提供支持。美国生物科学研究所（AIBS）成立的目的是统一代表生物科学的个人和组织，以便社区能够解决影响地球上生命的问题。AIBS汇集了115个成员协会和组织，代表了生命科学的全部领域，以解决集体关注的问题。至关重要的是，科学社会必须创造包容、多样、公平和接受的科学环境，以确保科学能够应对21世纪的重大挑战。创建IDEA科学环境需要一个自上而下和自下而上方法的迭代过程，依赖于共享信息和经验，分析个人假设和期望，诚实和开放地沟通，并致力于改变。该项目将吸引和创建一个为多数和少数群体服务的生物科学学会的合作网络，通过两个虚拟讲习班促进文化变革。这些研讨会将邀请科学界的领导共同了解IDEA文化的组成部分，评估生物学中的当前文化，确定实现IDEA环境的障碍，制定克服这些障碍的行动计划，并致力于长期的文化变革。第一次研讨会将为科学协会的领导人提供一个论坛，以参与三个主题的共享学习，讨论和反思：(1)文化，(2)偏见和刻板印象，以及(3)公平。讲习班将为参与者提供工具，以制定行动计划，使IDEA成为科学环境，并将他们获得的知识、资源和工具带回其组织。第二次讲习班将在6个月后举行，并将通过网络研讨会和参与者调查来评估行动计划的早期执行情况。该研讨会将导致在创造IDEA科学环境方面继续取得进展的长期步骤。在预期的项目成果中，有一个“工具包”，一个工具、模板、资源和其他信息的存储库，将可供科学团体、其他机构和公众使用。随着时间的推移，这个工具包将作为一个共享信息和帮助培养创建IDEA科学环境所需的大规模变化的地方。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientific institutions increasingly recognize the need to remove barriers for individuals historically underrepresented in science and to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). A wider breadth of scientific competencies, achieved by improving DEI, is needed to address many critical scientific concerns with global impacts. However, improving DEI requires a significant cultural shift, and scientific societies provide a unique platform to lead these cultural changes in the biological sciences. Scientific societies represent a wide variety of individuals and institutions; they have access to multiple fields of biology to impart resources and education; and they can enable networking and idea sharing across many disciplines and organizations to empower new approaches. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) was founded with the goal of unifying the individuals and organizations that collectively represent the biological sciences, so that the community could address matters that impact life on earth. AIBS brings together 115 member societies and organizations that represent the full spectrum of the life sciences to address matters of collective concern. It is critical that scientific societies create inclusive, diverse, equitable and accepting (IDEA) scientific environments to ensure that science is equipped to address 21st century grand challenges. Creating IDEA scientific environments requires an iterative process of top-down and bottom-up approaches that rely on sharing information and experiences, analyzing personal assumptions and expectations, communicating with honesty and openness, and committing to change. This project will engage and create a collaborative network of majority- and minority-serving biological scientific societies to foster cultural change through two virtual workshops. These workshops will engage scientific society leadership to collaboratively understand the components of IDEA cultures, assess the current culture in biology, identify barriers to enabling IDEA environments, create action plans to overcome these barriers, and commit to long-term cultural change. The first workshop will provide a forum for leaders of scientific societies to engage in shared learning, discussion, and reflection on three topics: (1) culture, (2) bias and stereotypes, and (3) equity. The workshop will offer tools for participants to develop action plans to enable IDEA scientific environments and to take the knowledge, resources, and tools they have gained back to their organizations. A second workshop will occur 6 months later and will be informed by a webinar and a participant survey to assess early implementation of the action plans. The workshop will result in longer-term steps to continue progress in creating IDEA scientific environments. Among the intended project outcomes is a “tool kit,” a repository of tools, templates, resources, and other information that will be available to scientific societies, other institutions, and the public. This tool kit will be curated over time as a place to share information and help cultivate the large-scale changes needed to create IDEA scientific environments.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.