EDI Panel 2 | Appendix 1 | Meeting Evaluation and Participant feed-in

Meeting evaluation

Key points and thoughts from participants relevant to the actions VMSG should take and advocate for:

  1. There has been discussion about funding agencies and I think that is important.
  2. Have ring fenced funding for underrepresented groups! Also set up a group that directly interacts with UKRI & GSL. I am unsure open letters w/o direct engagement work – at least i am not impressed with the responses from UKRI on recent letters.
  3. I think there needs to be a student officer or interest group within VMSG whose job it is to help implement + plan the manifesto, to ensure that these changes are both long lasting and meaningful.
  4. Really interested in defining a manifesto – could we at the same time identify timescales and ways we can test progress on it too
  5. I also think publishers should be held to account on the ‘diversity’ of editorial boards as potential role models (geographic diversity of institution is not enough).
  6. Does the manifesto relate just to race or go beyond that? Different manifestos for different issues?

Standout points for participants:

  1. That we need to be careful that incentivising (or rewarding) actions related to being apparently inclusive and diverse have substance and are not just tick-box exercises (e.g. tagging on an author to a publication isn’t enough).
  2. Chris Jackson’s comment that change is ‘Not going far enough and fast enough’.
  3. Difficulties overseas colleagues face in conducting and publishing work.
  4. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel on how to increase diversity – there are tried and tested programs which can be used now.
  5. We really need to support our BIPOC colleagues and ensure that we stand up for them.
  6. Programs that foster diversity only work if there’s buy in from the institution, faculty, and students.
  7. The ways to engage and encourage more ethnically diverse groups into the geosciences.
  8. Shanaka da Silva: Funding is critical, universities welcome initiatives but are not so keen when it comes to supporting these financially.
  9. Volcanology should be helping to spread the access to facilities that further our field to those who don’t have access to them, especially as that’s often where the volcanoes are.