Recent research, personal testimonials, and opinion pieces often highlight significant shortcomings in the way selection processes are designed and evaluated, often leading to discrimination against underrepresented groups.1 Changes to embed EDI considerations into application processes (whether for employment, funding or other opportunities) not only contribute to making our communities and institutions fairer and more equitable, but it is well known that teams which are diverse in many respects contribute to producing better outcomes.2 Diverse teams, nonetheless, have also been historically discriminated against in funding competitions and academia more generally. Structural changes are needed to implement measures that ensure application and selection processes are fully supportive and inclusive of underrepresented individuals, shifting the responsibility onto institutions, funders, or whoever is running the application process.3 However, succeeding in a diverse recruitment drive or funding scheme is not the end of the story; a culture of inclusion is required to ensure such individuals thrive4.
1 Nobles et al., 2022. Science must overcome its racist legacy. Nature 606: 225; Bombaci & Pejchar, 2022. Advancing equity in faculty hiring with diversity statements. Bioscience 72: 365.
2 Banal-Estañol et al., 2019. Evaluation in research funding agencies: Are structurally diverse teams biased against? Research Policy 48: 1823-1840; Rock & Grant, 2016. Why diverse teams are smarter. Harvard Business Review; McKinsey Report (2020). Diversity wins: How inclusion matters.
3 Odedina, F. T., Stern, M.C. (2021). Role of funders in addressing the continued lack of diversity in science and medicine. Nat Med 27, 1859–1861.
4 Bersin, J. and Enderes, K., 2021. Elevating equity: The real story of diversity and inclusion. Resources: The equity initiative.
These articles also provide more insight into the benefits of embedding EDI into applicaton processes, with learning from the CES Transformation Fund: