Science Needs DEI

At TEMPO, we acknowledge that academic science needs more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We understand that we cannot isolate science from politics and society. With that, we see DEI as a social imperative,  a scientific imperative, and an issue that academic institutions ought to address. Discrimination and implicit bias continue within our campuses and communities. With that front of mind, we know that improving DEI requires sustained action and collective reflection. As a team, we commit to this work. Our current actions and approaches are below. However, we continually seek to improve, so please reach out with your critical feedback or creative ideas.

DEI Action

a. Representation

We practice recruitment that increases diversity in our team, departments, and universities. This starts by recruiting based on a holistic evaluation of candidates rather than impact factor or pedigree. Representation starts the process toward equity. As we build a space more representative of society’s diversity,  we’ll work to create equity amongst team members of varying ethnicities, gender expression and preferences, backgrounds, immigration statuses, and expertise. As our work takes place in three countries (the United States, French Polynesia, and México),  we are working to build a representative and inclusive team of the communities and places that inform our work. 
 

b. Reciprocity with Communities

Our team conducts fieldwork in French Polynesia and México. In our fieldwork, we have an opportunity and responsibility to serve the communities we work with. We commit to serving fishing communities through inclusive science and creating community-focused communication.

Inclusive Science

Inclusive science for us means including the communities impacted by our research in decision-making about how our research is conducted. In French Polynesia, our leadership team strategizes how best to include fisher input in research design, participation in sampling, and feedback on analyses. We collaborate with Tahitian organizations with long-term relationships and accountability in fishing communities. We will give authorship contributions to Polynesian contributors. In México, our leadership team includes nonprofit organization leaders who have worked closely with fishing cooperatives for decades. We plan our fieldwork by discussing and co-developing our research plans with fishing cooperative leaders before we conduct any science. We also tailor our research outputs based on what these communities say they want to gain from the research process. 

Community-focused communication

On top of peer-reviewed publications, we commit to communicating results with more inclusive and accessible deliverables, including short reports in Spanish and French, infographics, and social media posts. Our communication strategy is based on developing the types of communication our community partners say they prefer. Our communications lead will transform relevant results and deliver them to stakeholder groups.

 

c. Undocumented Students

We support and stand with undocumented students. If you choose to disclose your undocumented status with our lead PI (Anastasia Quintana), she will treat this with the highest level of confidentiality and she will try to adapt our research activities to accommodate any restrictions you have (e.g. travel). Our project is funded by NSF funds which severely limits our ability to pay undocumented students as research assistants. However, there are many ways you can engage with TEMPO. If you are interested in our research and are undocumented, reach out and we will try to find something that is a good fit for you.

DEI Commitments

To create a healthy work environment, we will:

  • Support you if you choose to disclose your undocumented status to any of our leadership. We support undocumented students.

  • Value opinions and conversations from collaborators of all career stages.

  • Separate self-worth from scientific success.

  • Advocate for ongoing changes to support DEI in the places we work,  with a focus on the institutional level at our respective university systems.

  • Acknowledge that we will continue to make mistakes. We will learn from our mistakes and take action to improve upon them through time.

To maintain DEI in conversations, we:

  • Commit to a work environment where team members can give and receive constructive criticism safely.

  • Discuss societal and ethical issues that affect our group members and others in the community.

  • Recognize that the work is never "done," and we must maintain an ongoing conversation.

Acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land where we work and live

TEMPO is led by non-indigenous settler academics, including our leadership hub at UC Santa Barbara. This University system was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including those on whose lands this institution is located, the villages and unceded lands of the Chumash people. We recognize that this is an ongoing, multi-century process of colonialism by the United States government. Furthermore, the UCSB Administration has failed to faithfully and dutifully support the traditional custodians of these lands, the Chumash people and Indigenous students, through their continued support of Mauna Kea. We ask all who read this website to join us in acknowledging the Chumash Peoples, their Elders, both past and present, as well as their future generations, who are the traditional custodians of the land where UCSB is located. We also commit to an ongoing process to reflect on how the work we do, in our search for knowledge, our opportunities to teach, and every day in our chosen fields, affects these lands and the peoples of these lands that we work with and research to protect.

Reflecting as we go

We propose to unpack our own implicit biases and see alternative thought, speech, and appearance structures. We will not only respect the views of others, but seek to understand them. We will affirm each other and feel confident to remind colleagues (and ourselves) of privilege gaps, implicit biases, discrimination, prejudice, and hate.